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 / Health Care Access & Quality, Teens, Women, Rural
Goal: The goal of the study was to address the special psychosocial needs of adolescents and increase contraception use, equip adolescents with the education needed to make responsible decisions related to family planning matters, and decrease unintended pregnancies.
Impact: After a one-year follow-up, teens were less likely to be pregnant. Intermediate findings at six months showed that teens in the experimental group were more likely to continue using a birth control method and less likely to experience difficulty in dealing with contraceptive-related problems.
Filed under Good Idea, Community / Social Environment, Urban
Goal: The goal of TALK Line is to provide a safe, respectful, and comfortable place where parents and caregivers are supported.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Family Planning, Teens
Goal: The goal of Talking Parents, Healthy Teens is to help parents improve their communication skills with their adolescent children, promote healthy adolescent sexual development, and reduce risky adolescent sexual behaviors.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Women's Health, Women
Goal: The goal of the Targeted Outreach for Pregnant Women Act is to improve prenatal care among high risk and HIV-positive pregnant women in order to reduce the number of babies born with HIV-infection and prenatal drug exposure.
Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Built Environment, Children, Adults
Goal: TD Green Streets strives to green cities and towns across Canada by supporting innovative practices in municipal forestry.
Impact: TD Green Streets supports innovative practices in community forestry and has awarded funding to more than 500 communities across Canada. In 2012, 25 projects were funded resulting in the planting of 16,344 trees & shrubs nationwide.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Urban
Goal: The organization’s goal is to provide a safe space where a teenager can talk to another teenager who will listen, understand and not judge them.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Adults, Families
Goal: The goal of TeenRehabCenter.org is to give parents the tools they need to be able to talk to their children and teens about drugs and alcohol. By providing these resources, it hopes to prevent more teens and young adults from substance abuse. It also aims to help those who are already struggling by furnishing recovery information that is tailored both for parents and for teens.
Impact: Time spent in treatment is forward progress, since the individual is removed from substance use and negative peer and environmental influences. At least half of teens who graduate from rehab will enjoy an extended period of sobriety. How they follow-up after rehab is over can play a massive role in how strong and stable these healthy habits become.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Children
Goal: The purpose of this project is to link Florida’s Title V program (CMS) and local Community Health Centers to:
- Reach and identify uninsured children with special health care needs in Florida and enroll them in insurance
- Focus on underserved communities that traditionally have faced numerous barriers to care, particularly those in the black and Hispanic communities, and children living in rural areas
- Use telemedicine to facilitate enrollment in CMS, care coordination, and access to specialty care
- Work with trusted community elders -- grandmothers -- as lay health partners to facilitate health-related outreach and support to children with special health care needs and their families.
In short, the project seeks to build a sustainable medical home for children with special health care needs in the safety net.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders
Goal: Baylor Scott & White started TelePsych because many of its hospitals do not have any psychologists or psychiatrists on staff. The Hillcrest hospital in particular has seen an increase in patients needing acute mental health care. Its location next to the highway and the dearth of other trauma centers means that the hospital receives 1-2 patients per day with acute mental health needs. Hillcrest has licensed medical social workers in the Emergency Department but struggled without an actual psychologist or psychiatrist available. Their goal in implementing TelePsych was to move mental health patients through the continuum of care efficiently and with empathy.
Impact: The hospital staff at Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest has been very impressed with the implementation and ease of use of the TelePsych process and system. Patient satisfaction has increased and staff are able to move patients through the next level of care more efficiently.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Teens, Adults, Women, Urban
Goal: Text4Health aims to improve immunization rates in urban, underserved, low-income populations via text messaging.