Table of Contents >
   Part F. Analyzing Community Problems and Designing and Ad... >
      Chapter 19. Choosing and Adapting Community Interventions >
         Section 1. Criteria for Choosing Promising Practices and Com... >
             Tools & Checklists - A checklist that summarizes the major points contained in the section. >

Criteria for Choosing Promising Practices and Community Interventions

  

Tools & Checklists

 Contributed by Phil Rabinowitz, with material adapted from Lisbeth Schorr's Common Purpose Edited by Jerry Schultz and Val Renault

Tools
Checklists

Tool 1: A Self-Assessment to Help You Find and Choose Promising Practices

A. Answering these questions will help you search for the best promising practice for your community

1. What is the broad area of interest (e.g., health promotion, independent living )?



2. What specific problem are you working on (e.g., substance abuse, obesity)?



3. What population will benefit from your effort (e.g., Hispanics, youth, rural groups)



4. What type of intervention or community change (i.e., change in program, policy, or practice) are you seeking? Is it listed in your strategic plan?



5. In what sector of the community will this take place (e.g., business, youth groups, churches)?



6. Are you interested in a targeting an intervention at a high-risk group or a comprehensive approach, or both?



B. Answering these questions will help choose the best promising practice for your community


1. Does the promising practice meet all of the criteria set by your search?



2. Some programs can be complicated, which means an organization that can support the effort is needed. Are there organizations in your community that can support the effort? If not, can you create such an organization?



3. What is the evidence that the promising practice will have some impact?



4. Will you be able to replicate the practice? If not, how will you modify it for your community?



5. What resources do you have or will you be able to generate to support the practice? Will a pared back version satisfy your needs?



6. Is the practice compatible with your community's beliefs, attitudes and values (e.g., will your community support condom distribution)?



7. Have you looked at different versions of the practice in the examples and stories provided in the Community Tool Box or in other resources? Have you contacted others who have implemented the practice?



8. How will this promising practice work for you? What would make it a success for your community?

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Checklist


What is a promising practice or intervention?

__ You know that a practice is a particular way of doing things.

__ You know that an intervention is usually a whole program or initiative meant to achieve an overall result.

__ You use theory, past experience, and/or analysis of the problem to help you create or judge untried practices and interventions.


Where do you find out about existing promising practices or interventions?

You use these sources to find out about existing promising practices or interventions:

__ Networking.

__ State and national advocacy and professional organizations.

__ International, state and federal agencies.

__ Foundations and other private funders.

__ Academia.

__ Libraries.

__ The Internet.

__ Word of mouth from the community.


How do you identify a true promising practice or intervention?

__ You have decided whether you're searching for a best practice for treatment, prevention, or promotion.

__ You know how to use both quantitative and qualitative data to judge promising practices and interventions.

You recognize the attributes of successful programs:

__ Successful programs are comprehensive, flexible, responsive, and persevering.

__ Successful programs see children in the context of families, and families as parts of neighborhoods and communities - in other words, they consider their work in context.

__ Successful programs have a long-term preventive orientation, a clear mission, and continue to evolve over time.

__ Successful programs are managed by competent and committed individuals with clearly identifiable skills.

__ Staffs of successful programs are trained and supported to provide high quality, responsive service.

__ Successful programs operate in settings that encourage practitioners to build strong relationships based on mutual trust and respect.

__ Successful programs are collaborative both internally and externally.

__ Successful programs and their staffs generally have, both institutionally and individually, a set of relationships and core values that strengthen their sense of shared purpose, and give them faith that disappointments and setbacks can be overcome.


How do you choose the practice or intervention that's right for your community?

You follow the basic steps to choosing a promising practice or intervention:

__ You conduct a community-based assessment and planning process to be sure that you're addressing the issues that are most appropriate and pressing for the community.

__ You decide whether you'll address the issue directly, or whether you'll try to change the conditions that make it possible.

__ You find (or create, if that's necessary) practices or interventions that have successfully addressed the issue in the way you want to address it.

__ You determine what elements of a promising intervention will work in your community, and which ones need to be changed.

__ You implement the intervention, making adjustments as you go along.

__ You evaluate your work and results regularly, understanding that no matter how well any intervention works, it can always be improved.

You pay attention to the difficulties in finding practices or interventions you can use:

__ Excellent programs often don't travel well.

__ You can't expect people to accept and embrace a program if it's imposed upon them from above.

__ No intervention or practice that involves people - either staff or participants - is perfect.

__ The difference between a successful and an unsuccessful intervention can be subtle.

__ If you can't replicate an intervention's resources as well as its practices, you're probably headed for trouble.

You try to assure successful replication by:

__ Choosing a program based on ideas that are sound and well-developed through experience.

__ Choosing a program based on ideas that can be taught and can inspire local leadership.

__ Choosing a program that conveys a sense of mission, of belonging to something larger.

__ Making sure you have access to people who have successfully implemented the program.

__ Making sure you have supportive and wise consultation.

__ Making sure you have technical assistance that recognizes there are new things to be discovered.

__ Including local involvement in initial planning for, finding and choosing, and implementing the intervention.

__ Making sure funders know that trying to replicate a program that's been successful elsewhere doesn't guarantee success overnight, or even at all.

__ Matching your goals to your available resources.


You structure the replication process for success by:

__ Combining the replication of the essence of a successful intervention with the adaptation of many of its components to a new setting or population.

__ Obtaining the continuous backing of an intermediary organization.

__ Recognizing the importance of the systems and institutional context.

__ Recognizing the importance of people.

__ Judging success by the outcomes for individuals and communities.

__ You tackle, directly and strategically, the obstacles to large-scale change.

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