Promising Practices
The Promising Practices database informs professionals and community members about documented approaches to improving community health and quality of life.
The ultimate goal is to support the systematic adoption, implementation, and evaluation of successful programs, practices, and policy changes. The database provides carefully reviewed, documented, and ranked practices that range from good ideas to evidence-based practices.
Learn more about the ranking methodology.
CDC COMMUNITY GUIDE: Reducing Tobacco Use Initiation: Increasing the Unit Price of Tobacco Products (USA)
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Teens, Adults
Goal: The goals is to make the use of tobacco products less attractive to young people
who have limited incomes and a variety of ways to spend their money.
Impact: These interventions that increase the price of tobacco products
showed strong evidence of their effectiveness in:
• Reducing tobacco use among adolescents and adults
• Reducing population consumption of tobacco products
• Increasing tobacco use cessation
CDC COMMUNITY GUIDE: Restricting Minors’ Access to Tobacco Products: Community Mobilization with Additional Interventions (USA)
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Children, Teens, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Impact: The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) recommends community mobilization combined with additional interventions —such as stronger local laws directed at retailers, active enforcement of retailer sales laws, and retailer education with reinforcement—on the basis of sufficient evidence of effectiveness in reducing youth tobacco use and access to tobacco products from commercial sources.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Children, Adults
Goal: The goal of the programs is to increase vaccination coverage of patients through reminders to providers and other health care professionals.
Impact: The Community Preventive Services Task Force recommends provider reminder interventions based on strong evidence of effectiveness in improving vaccination coverage:
-In adults, adolescents, and children
-When used alone or with additional components
-Across a range of intervention characteristics (e.g., computerized or simple reminders, checklists or flowcharts)
-In a range of settings and populations
CDC COMMUNITY GUIDE: Universally Recommended Vaccinations: Home Visits to Increase Vaccination Rates (USA)
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Children, Teens, Adults, Older Adults, Families
Impact: The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) recommends home visits to increase vaccination rates in children and adults.
The CPSTF notes, however, that economic evidence shows home visits can be resource-intensive and costly relative to other options.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Prevention & Safety, Teens, Women, Urban
Goal: The Centering Pregnancy Plus Project aims to reduce risk for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases and improve health outcomes for young pregnant women, aged 14-21.
Impact: Facilitated group discussions promoting condom use among young women can increase condom use among participants.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Public Safety, Teens
Goal: The goal of the Checkpoints Program is to encourage parental limits on teen driving, and decrease risky teen driving.
Impact: The Checkpoints Program increased the rate at which parents placed greater limits on high-risk teen driving conditions and decreased traffic violations among teens.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Domestic Violence & Abuse, Children, Families, Urban
Goal: The goal of the Child Development-Community Policing Program (CDCP) is to reduce the negative consequences of exposure to violent and potentially traumatic events among children and their families.
Impact: The CDCP Program shows that through community policing efforts, it is possible to successfully intervene early in an attempt to ameliorate the effects of children's exposure to violence.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children
Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce the negative impacts of divorce and separation on children.
Impact: Children of parents in the program said they felt caught in the middle less often compared to those of non-participants, and reported less stress in general. Parents who took the course also reported more awareness of their children's feelings, and had better communication with their children.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Children, Families
Goal: The goal of this program is to provide information about mood disorders to parents, equip parents with skills they need to communicate this information to their children, and open dialogue in families about the effects of parental depression.
Impact: Parents in the program scored better in their reports of child-related behavior and attitude changes of parental illness than parents who received a group-format presentation. Children in the program scored higher on measures of improved understanding of parental mood disorder than children who received a group-format lecture.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Children
Goal: The goal of this program is to relieve symptoms of PTSD, depression, and general anxiety among children exposed to trauma.
Impact: Studies have found significant reductions in PTSD and depression symptoms for treatment children in CBITS when compared with a control group. Additionally, the program demonstrated effectiveness at reducing parent-reported psychosocial dysfunction among participating children.