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Databases of Best Practices

 

Comprehensive Resources

Explore best practices for promoting community health and development. (See below for resources by issue.)

 

Campbell Collaboration (C2)

The Campbell Collaboration disseminates systematic reviews of existing interventions. Its topics include crime, social welfare, and education.

Canadian Best Practices Portal

This portal provides you with resources and solutions to plan programs for promoting health and preventing diseases in your community. The site consolidates multiple sources of credible information in one place.

Cochrane Collaboration

The Cochrane Collaboration reviews standards for healthcare interventions and appropriate treatments.The healthcare evidence is also available in Spanish. Cochrane is a site that offers training and other services.

The Community Guide

The Guide to Community Preventive Services is a free resource to help choose programs and policies to improve health and prevent disease in communities. Systematic reviews are used to answer questions such as these: Which interventions have been proven effective? Are there effective interventions available that are right for my community? What might effective interventions cost and what is the likely return on investment?

Community Problem-Solving

A list of links to sites from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that include best practices.

A Compendium of Proven Community-Based Prevention Programs

This report from the Trust for America's Health highlights 79 evidence-based disease and injury prevention programs that have saved lives and improved health.

Database of Interventions

The CDC Community Health Improvement Navigator (CHI Navigator) Database of Interventions is a tool that helps you identify interventions that work in four action areas—socioeconomic factors, physical environment, health behaviors, and clinical care. It provides leaders and stakeholders with options to consider when making decisions about how to invest in their community and address its health needs.

Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Coordinating Center (EPPI-Centre)

The EPPI-Centre provides review of evidence-based policy and practice related to social interventions.The site engages researchers in discussion of how to make research more relevant and how to use findings in many areas including education and health promotion.

Healthy People 2030 Structured Evidence Queries

This site makes information and evidence-based strategies related to the Healthy People 2030 objectives easier to find. The National Library of Medicine has worked together to develop search strategies for selected Healthy People 2030 subject areas. These one-click strategies search PubMed, a database of the National Library of Medicine that provides access to over 11 million citations from MEDLINE and additional life science journals. PubMed includes links to many sites providing full text articles and other related sources.

Healthy Communities Institute's Promising Practices Database

Available through several healthy communities websites, this database informs professionals and community members about documented approaches to improving community health and quality of life.

Kansas Health Matters 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.

Michigan State University Best Practice Briefs 

This archive gives access to over 30 short but informative articles on best practices in various areas.

Model Practice Database From National Association of Country and City Health Officials (NACCHO)

A guide to model / promising practices that is searchable by state, type, year, or keyword.

National Governor's Association Center for Best Practices

The NGA Center for Best Practices helps policy staff develop and implement innovative solutions to challenges facing their states.It provides comprehensive information about best practices in emerging issues including: education, health, homeland security and technology, environment, energy, and workforce programs.

New Tactics in Human Rights Database

A searchable tactics database of over 200 examples from advocates and their organizations around the world who have successfully used tactics to address the wide range of human rights and development issues facing their communities. In addition to the main database, this site also offers Tactical Notebooks, in-depth case studies from 49 practitioners that provide a step-by-step guide of how they implemented a significant change, and New Tactics in Human Rights: A Resource for Practitioners, a book features 100 brief, inspirational stories from around the world (all available to download for free from the website), categorized by a) intervention tactics; b) prevention tactics; c) restorative tactics; and d) promotional tactics (building human rights cultures and institutions).

NREPP: National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices

NREPP is a searchable database of interventions for the prevention and treatment of mental and substance use disorders. SAMHSA has developed this resource to help people, agencies, and organizations implement programs and practices in their communities.

Program Archives (Sociometrics)

Programs Archives profiles outstanding prevention programs in key health areas (sexuality, health and adolescence, HIV/AIDS, youth substance use and prevention).It aims to facilitate the implementation of proven and cost effective initiatives.

Top Tier Evidence - Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy

This validated resource helps you find research-proven social programs.

What Works for Child and Youth Development: Tools for Improving Services to Children and Youth (Child Trends)

Child Trend’s “What Works” guide provides interactive tables which illustrate what works and what does not work in improving outcomes for children and adolescents.

What Works for Health - County Health Rankings and Roadmaps

Developed by experts at the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, What Works for Health is an online tool that you can use to find effective policies and programs to improve the many factors that affect your health. Because evidence matters when it comes to developing and implementing solutions to problems that affect communities, each of the programs included in What Works for Health is given an evidence rating. The highest-rated programs and policies have been shown to work.  What Works for Health is easy to use – just choose a health factor of interest (i.e. tobacco use, employment, access to health care, environmental quality, etc.) and browse through the evidence ratings for particular programs, policies, or system changes that address the particular health factor of interest.

What Works Wisconsin: Effective Prevention and Intervention Programs

What Works Wisconsin is a project of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Human Ecology and the University of Wisconsin-Extension’s Family Living Program. Initiated in 2004, the What Works project focuses on distilling the latest scientific knowledge on effective policies, practices, and programs, including “evidence-based programs,” for youth and their families, schools, and communities. It provides practitioners and policymakers with the tools to develop effective programs and evaluate and improve existing programming based on state-of-the-art knowledge of what makes programs effective.

 

Categorical Web-Based Resources for Best Practices by Issue

 

ADOLESCENT PREGNANCY

Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP). AMCHP’s “Innovation Station” is a searchable database of emerging, promising, and best practices in Maternal and Child Health from across the nation.

Why It Matters (National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy). The Campaign translates research on teen-pregnancy prevention into user-friendly materials.

What Works for Health – Resources on Sexual Activity. Browse through the evidence ratings for particular programs, policies, or system changes that address sexual activity – part of the What Works for Health database.

Youth.gov Program Directory This searchable directory features evidence-based programs whose purpose is to prevent and/or reduce delinquency or other problem behaviors in young people. This directory filters by key word, risk factor, and protective factor.

Youth.gov Teen Pregnancy Prevention Evidence Review This searchable database lists Evidence-Based Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program Models or programs that have shown impacts on teen pregnancies or births, sexually transmitted infections, or sexual activity. 

 

CANCER

Cancer Control P.L.A.N.E.T (National Cancer Institute). The research-tested intervention programs present knowledge related to the prevention and treatment of cancer in a user-friendly database.

 

CHILD AND YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP). AMCHP’s “Innovation Station” is a searchable database of emerging, promising, and best practices in Maternal and Child Health from across the nation.

Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness The Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness is the result of a collaboration between the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Defense. The Clearinghouse helps providers identify, select, and implement evidence-based programs and practices to address wide-ranging family and mental health issues. The searchable database includes effective and promising intervention programs as well as resources and strategies to ensure the welfare of military families.

Home Visiting Evidence of Effectiveness The HomVEE initiative provides a thorough and transparent review of the home visiting research literature and an assessment of the evidence of effectiveness for home visiting programs models that target families with pregnant women and children from birth to age 5.

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Model Programs Guide. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s Model Programs Guide (MPG) is designed to assist practitioners and communities in implementing evidence-based prevention and intervention programs that can make a difference in the lives of children and communities. The MPG database of over 200 evidence-based programs covers the entire continuum of youth services from prevention through sanctions to reentry.

Pathways Mapping Initiative (Harvard University and the Annie E. Casey Foundation). The Pathways Mapping Initiative provides a map of indicators for school readiness and family economic success that contribute to child and youth outcomes.

Period of Purple Crying (Shaken Baby Syndrome Prevention Program). The Period of PURPLE Crying program is the name given to the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome’s evidence-based prevention program, which includes a full color 11-page booklet and a 10-minute DVD intended to be given to parents of new infants. The Period of PURPLE Crying program helps parents and caregivers understand the frustrating features of crying in normal infants that can lead to shaking or abuse. The program provides the opportunity for parents to learn about the crying characteristics from over 25 years of research on normal infant crying conducted by Ronald G. Barr, MDCM, and other scientists worldwide.

Promising Practice Network on Children, Families and Communities. The Promising Practices Network site highlights programs and practices and research evidence about what works in improving outcomes for children and youth.

Proven and Promising Responsible Fatherhood and Family Strengthening Initiatives - Evidence Review, 2010-2012 The initiative includes reviews that catalogue the quality of the evidence from studies of programs serving low-income fathers and couples.

Self-Sufficiency Research Clearinghouse The Self-Sufficiency Research Clearinghouse provides access to materials related to self-sufficiency programs, practice, and research. It can be searched by keyword, topic, category, area of interest, publisher, year, reference type, research methodology, geographic focus, and target population.

Strengthening Families Evidence Review The Strengthening Families Evidence review involved a systematic review of research on programs serving low-income fathers or couples. A searchable tool allows users to search all studies included in the review and filter by key words, study rating, program goals and outcome domains, and program components.

U.S. Department of Education What Works Clearinghouse The What Works Clearinghouse reviews research on a range of education topics, including students with disabilities, dropout prevention, education technology, school organization and governance, student behavior, and teacher and leader effectiveness. The site includes a searchable research directory of interventions that can be filtered by topic/outcome domains, grade, effectiveness rating, extent of evidence, and the delivery method.

USAID YouthPower — What Works YouthPower.org is the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) website that promotes a Positive Youth Development approach to empower young people to become agents of their own development. The What Works section provides available evidence on what works in youth and peace-building, what works in youth and health, and what works in youth and agriculture, food security, and nutrition.

What Works for Health – Resources on Family and Social Support. Browse through the evidence ratings for particular programs, policies, or system changes that address family and social support programs – part of the What Works for Health database.

 

CHRONIC DISEASE

Canadian Best Practices Portal for Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention. The primary goals of the Canadian Best Practices Portal are to develop and disseminate best practices information for chronic disease prevention and control interventions, provide decision makers with a comprehensive and standardized resource about best practices for chronic disease prevention and control, and to create awareness of the overall Canadian Best Practices System through communication and marketing activities targeted to key audiences (decision makers in practice, decision makers in policy development, decision makers in research).

Healthy People 2030 Evidence-Based Recommendations for Physical Activity. Released in 2008, the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans (PAG) is the first-ever publication of national guidelines for physical activity. The Physical Activity objectives for Healthy People 2030 reflect the strong state of the science supporting the health benefits of regular physical activity among youth and adults. Regular physical activity includes participation in moderate and vigorous physical activities and muscle-strengthening activities.

Preventing Chronic Disease. Preventing Chronic Disease is a peer-reviewed electronic journal focusing on the link between applied prevention research and pubic health practice in preventing chronic diseases (e.g., diabetes, cardiovascular diseases).

 

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT AND VOLUNTEERING

Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) Evidence Exchange CNCS’ Evidence Exchange is a digital repository of research, evaluation reports, and data focusing on national service, social innovation, civic engagement, and volunteering. The types of evidence included in the repository range from impact and implementation evaluations to outcome reports and case studies.

 

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Healthy People 2030 Evidence-Based Recommendations for Community-Based Interventions. This database provides evidence-based community interventions from the Guide to Community Preventive Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Health status and related health behaviors are determined by influences at multiple levels: personal, organizational/institutional, environmental, and policy. Because significant and dynamic interrelationships exist among these different levels of health determinants, educational and community-based programs are most likely to succeed in improving health and wellness when they address influences at all levels and in a variety of environments/settings.

MOST (UNESCO) Clearinghouse of Best Practices. Best practices in urban and community development.

What Works for Health – Resources on Community Safety. Browse through the evidence ratings for particular programs, policies, or system changes that address improving community safety – part of the What Works for Health database.

What Works for Health – Resources on Improving the Built Environment of Your Community. Browse through the evidence ratings for particular programs, policies, or system changes that address improving the built environment of a community – part of the What Works for Health database.

What Works for Health – Resources on Environmental Quality. Browse through the evidence ratings for particular programs, policies, or system changes that address improving environmental quality – part of the What Works for Health database.

World Bank Report - Land Policies for Growth and Poverty Reduction. Best practices for land use administration and policy.

 

EDUCATION

What Works Clearinghouse (U.S. Department of Education). Provides scientific evidence of what works in educational programs, practices, products, and policies through easily accessible databases and reports.

What Works for Health – Resources on Education. Browse through the evidence ratings for particular programs, policies, or system changes that address education – part of the What Works for Health database.

 

HEALTH CARE

Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, Putting Prevention Into Practice. PPIP clinical intervention materials are based on research-tested interventions for improving the delivery of services in primary health care settings.

RTI-UNC Evidence-based Practice Center. The RTI-UNC EPC provides summations of scientific evidence for a variety of healthcare topics.  It is one of thirteen EPCs sponsored by the US Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

What Works for Health – Resources on Quality of Care. Browse through the evidence ratings for particular programs, policies, or system changes that address improving quality of health care – part of the What Works for Health database.

 

HEALTH IMPROVEMENT

NREPP: SAMHSA’s National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices. The National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP) is a searchable database of interventions for the prevention and treatment of mental and substance use disorders, including violence prevention. The purpose of this registry is to assist the public in identifying approaches to preventing and treating mental and/or substance use disorders that have been scientifically tested and that can be readily disseminated to the field.

What Works for Health – Resources on Diet and Exercise. Browse through the evidence ratings for particular programs, policies, or system changes that address improving overall health, focusing on healthy eating and physical activity – part of the What Works for Health database.

 

HEALTH PROMOTION

Intervention MICA - Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. Intervention MICA is an evidence-based intervention planning system to support community stakeholders and public health practitioners.  It provides tools for needs assessment, priority-setting, intervention design, implementation, and evaluation.

 

HIV/AIDS

CDC HIV/AIDS Prevention Research Synthesis The PRS Project identifies evidence-based HIV behavioral interventions (EBIs) to help HIV prevention planners and providers in the United States select interventions most appropriate for HIV prevention within their communities.

Compendium of HIV Prevention Interventions with Evidence of Effectiveness (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). A set of effective science-based HIV/AIDS interventions created in response to requests from prevention service providers and others.

Diffusion of Effective Behavioral Interventions project (DEBI) (U.S.  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). A national-level strategy bringing “science-based, community-and group-level HIV prevention interventions to community-based service providers and state and local health departments.”

REP+, Replicating Effective Programs plus other related resources (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). A site dedicated to identifying HIV/AIDS prevention programs which have been tested to work in the real world.  These science-based intervention packages are translated into everyday language.

What Works for Health – Resources on Sexual Activity. Browse through the evidence ratings for particular programs, policies, or system changes that address sexual activity, including interventions to prevent the spread of HIV and other STDs – part of the What Works for Health database.

 

MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH

Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP). AMCHP’s “Innovation Station” is a searchable database of emerging, promising, and best practices in Maternal and Child Health from across the nation.

 

SUBSTANCE USE

Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness The Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness is the result of a collaboration between the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Defense. The Clearinghouse helps providers identify, select, and implement evidence-based programs and practices to address wide-ranging family and mental health issues. The searchable database includes effective and promising intervention programs as well as resources and strategies to ensure the welfare of military families.

Healthy People 2030 Evidence-Based Recommendations for Substance Abuse Prevention. The following clinical recommendations come from the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). This database provides approaches for reducing alcohol abuse, and offers a separate section on preventing tobacco use.

Preventing Underage Drinking: Using Getting to Outcomes with the SAMSHA Strategic Prevention Framework to Achieve Results. For in-depth information on some Evidence-Based Environmental Strategies to prevent underage drinking, see p. 29-37 of this manual:

Preventing Underage Drinking: Using Getting to Outcomes with the SAMHSA Strategic Prevention Framework to Achieve Results. Imm P, Chinman M, Wandersman A, Rosenbloom D, Guckenburg S, Leis R. (2007). Preventing Underage Drinking: Using Getting to Outcomes with the SAMHSA Strategic Prevention Framework to Achieve Results, RAND, TR-403-SAMHSA. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation.

SAFE Solutions, part of the SAFE (Stop the Addiction Fatality Epidemic) project, is designed for communities to freely search a compendium of research, educational materials, innovative approaches, and best practices curated by national subject matter experts to address local challenges pertaining to mental health and substance use disorders.

SAMHSA’s National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices. The National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP) is a searchable database of interventions for the prevention and treatment of mental and substance use disorders. SAMHSA has developed this resource to help people, agencies, and organizations implement programs and practices in their communities.

What Works for Health – Resources on Alcohol and Drug Use. Browse through the evidence ratings for particular programs, policies, or system changes that address preventing alcohol abuse – part of the What Works for Health database.

What Works for Health – Resources on Tobacco Use. Browse through the evidence ratings for particular programs, policies, or system changes that address preventing tobacco use – part of the What Works for Health database.

 

VIOLENCE PREVENTION

Crime Solutions: All Programs and Practices. The Office of Justice Programs' CrimeSolutions.gov shares what works in criminal justice, juvenile justice, and crime victim services. The site provides easily understandable research on the effectiveness of various programs and practices.

Healthy People 2030 Evidence-Based Recommendations for Injury Prevention and Violence Prevention. This database provides evidence-based community interventions from the Guide to Community Preventive Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The National Reentry Resource Center What Works in Reentry Clearinghouse The Clearinghouse offers easy access to research on the effectiveness of a wide variety of reentry programs and practices. Information is categorized by focus area, and a customizable search feature is available.

Period of Purple Crying (Shaken Baby Syndrome Prevention Program). The Period of PURPLE Crying program is the name given to the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome’s evidence-based prevention program, which includes a full color 11-page booklet and a 10-minute DVD intended to be given to parents of new infants. The Period of PURPLE Crying program helps parents and caregivers understand the frustrating features of crying in normal infants that can lead to shaking or abuse. The program provides the opportunity for parents to learn about the crying characteristics from over 25 years of research on normal infant crying conducted by Ronald G. Barr, MDCM, and other scientists worldwide.

VetoViolence provides tools, trainings, and resources to empower you and your community to prevent violence and implement evidence-based prevention strategies in your community to help reduce risks for violence and to increase what protects people and communities from it.

Violence Prevention. The purpose of this website is to provide a violence prevention resource for policy makers, practitioners and others working to tackle and prevent violence. The website includes an Evidence Base (abstracts of systematically reviewed literature providing evidence of measures that can work to prevent violence), Resources (key publications and resources on violence and prevention), and other tools.

 

YOUTH VIOLENCE

Crime Solutions: All Programs and Practices. The Office of Justice Programs' CrimeSolutions.gov shares what works in criminal justice, juvenile justice, and crime victim services. The site provides easily understandable research on the effectiveness of various programs and practices.

Measuring Violence Related Attitudes, Beliefs, and Behaviors Among Youths: A Compendium of Assessment Tools: Second Edition. This compendium provides researchers and prevention specialists with a set of tools to assess violence-related beliefs, behaviors, and influences, as well as to evaluate programs to prevent youth violence. Many of the measures included in the first edition of the compendium focused on individual violence-related attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. These types of measures are included in this edition as well and may be particularly useful for evaluating a school-based curriculum or a community-based program designed to reduce violence among youths

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Model Programs Guide. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s Model Programs Guide (MPG) is designed to assist practitioners and communities in implementing evidence-based prevention and intervention programs that can make a difference in the lives of children and communities. The MPG database of over 200 evidence-based programs covers the entire continuum of youth services from prevention through sanctions to reentry.

Paving the Way for Project Safe Neighborhoods: SACSI In 10 U.S. Cities. This report presents the main findings of a national assessment of the Strategic Approaches to Community Safety Initiative (SACSI). The targeted crimes included homicide, firearms violence and violations, rape, sexual assault, violent crime among 15- to 24-year-olds, and violent crime among youth under 18 years. The study found that the SACSI approach, when implemented effectively, is associated with reductions in targeted violent crimes.

World Report on Violence and Health: Chapter 2: Youth Violence. This report chapter, which focuses on youth violence, is from the World Report on Violence and Health. This report provides a review of the problem of violence on a global scale – what it is, whom it affects, and what can be done about it. The goals of the report are to raise awareness about the problem of violence globally and to make the case that violence is preventable and that public health has a crucial role to play in addressing its causes and consequences.