Strategies

What Works for Health includes evidence-informed strategies to create communities where everyone can thrive.

31 Strategies
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Physically active classrooms

Incorporate classroom-based physical activities, such as classroom energizers, into academic lessons or as a break, usually for elementary students

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Diet and Exercise

Places for physical activity

Modify local environments to support physical activity, increase access to new or existing facilities for physical activity, or build new facilities

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Diet and Exercise

Point-of-decision prompts for physical activity

Place motivational signs on or near stairwells, elevators, and escalators that encourage individuals to use stairs

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Diet and Exercise

Restorative justice in the criminal justice system

Use victim-offender dialogue to address the harm caused by a crime and victims’ needs; can take place pre-arrest or post sentence via sharing circles, victim-offender mediation, or face-to-face conferences

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Community Safety

Safe Routes to Schools

Promote walking and biking to school through education, incentives, and environmental changes; often called SRTS

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Housing and Transit
  • Diet and Exercise

Scared Straight

Organize tours of prison facilities for juvenile delinquents or youth at risk of delinquency and allow them to observe prison life and attend inmates’ presentations; also called juvenile awareness programs

Evidence Rating:
Evidence of Ineffectiveness
  • Community Safety

Screen time interventions for children

Encourage children to spend time away from TV and other stationary screen media, often as part of a multi-faceted effort to increase physical activity and improve nutrition

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Diet and Exercise

Soda taxes

Increase the price of sugar sweetened beverages (e.g., soda) by adding an excise or sales tax

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Diet and Exercise

Walking school buses

Arrange active transportation with a fixed route, designated stops, and pick up times when children can walk to school with adult chaperones

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Housing and Transit
  • Diet and Exercise