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.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The goal of Hip-Hop to Health Jr is to reduce gains in BMI in preschool minority children.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Urban
Goal: The goals of the Holistic Health Recovery Program are to promote health and improve quality of life of injection drug users.
Impact: Implementation of the program resulted in a decrease in addition severity, a decrease in risk behavior, and significant improvement in behavioral skills and quality of life.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use
Goal: To reduce drug abuse and increase positive mental and physical health outcomes among college students ages 18-25 years old.
Impact: Tailored health and wellness interventions may reduce risk factors facing college students, while perhaps improving their health-related quality of life.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Cancer, Children, Families
Goal: To increase sun protection behaviors in early childhood.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Teens
Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce substance use and other illegal behaviors among teenage males.
Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Children, Urban
Goal: The goals of the program are to carry out a comprehensive strategy to apprehend and prosecute offenders who carry firearms, to put others on notice that offenders face certain and serious punishment for carrying illegal firearms, and to prevent youths from following the same criminal path.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Social Environment, Children, Families
Goal: The goal of this program is to teach effective parenting practices in order to promote healthy child adjustment.
Impact: Immediate changes for parents include improved positive parenting practices and reduced family coercion. Benefits to these parenting practices, in turn, have been found to result in reductions in child behavior problems and parental depression.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Children, Teens
Goal: The Penn Resiliency Program is a depression prevention program that seeks to reduce the longevity of symptoms exhibited and the severity of symptoms at onset of depression, through cognitive-behavioral therapy and problem-solving techniques.
Impact: The Penn Resiliency program shows that a group-based program seeking to prevent the initial onset of and decrease the exacerbation of depression children and teens by incorporating specific coping and problem-solving skills can reduce depressive symptoms over time.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Adults
Goal: To eliminate or reduce sex risk behaviors and eliminate or reduce illicit drug use among HIV-positive clinic patients.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Physical Activity
Goal: Project Angel Heart improves health and well-being for people with life-threatening illnesses by preparing and delivering medically tailored meals and promoting the power of food as medicine.
Impact: Survey data from Project Angel Heart clients show that this program has a positive impact on clients. Of clients surveyed in 2018: 82% report less stress, 69% report improved adherence to health care plans, 72% report improved quality of life, and 72% report improved ability to afford basic needs.