Strategies

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

122 Strategies
Clear all

Alcohol outlet density restrictions

Limit increases in the number and concentration of alcohol outlets by area or by population through licensing or zoning regulations

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Alcohol and Drug Use
  • Community Safety

Allied dental professional scope of practice

Expand the role of allied dental professionals (e.g., hygienists, therapists, etc.) via changes to statute, dentist supervision requirements, etc.

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Access to Care

Attendance interventions for chronically absent students

Support interventions that provide chronically absent students with resources to improve self-esteem, social skills, etc. and address familial and school-related factors that can contribute to poor attendance

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Education

Automated speed enforcement cameras

Use devices such as speed cameras, laser devices, radar, etc. to enforce speed limits; devices can be permanent fixtures or be used manually by law enforcement officers

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Housing and Transit
  • Community Safety

Behavioral interventions to prevent HIV and other STIs

Use individual-, group-, and community-level interventions to provide education, support, and training that can affect social norms about HIV and other STIs

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Sexual Activity

Bicycle helmet laws

Establish laws that require bicyclists to wear helmets; laws can apply to children or all bicyclists and can be established at the state or local level

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Community Safety

Bicycle infrastructure for enhanced cycling safety

Accommodate or provide dedicated infrastructure for cyclists via bicycle paths, lanes, cycle tracks or protected lanes, etc.

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Housing and Transit
  • Community Safety

Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS)

Match disadvantaged or at-risk youth with volunteer mentors in school or community settings

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Community Safety
  • Education

Car seat distribution & education programs

Provide parents with car seats free of charge, via loan or low cost rental, often with education about proper installation and use

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Community Safety

Car seat education & enforcement campaigns

Share information about the importance of proper car seat use and enforce existing laws via checkpoints, dedicated law enforcement officials, etc.

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Community Safety

Car seat incentive & education programs

Educate parents and caregivers about proper use of car seats and reward parents and/or children for correct use

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Community Safety

Career & technical education for high school completion

Provide career and technical education (CTE) as an integrated part of an academic curriculum for students, especially those at risk of dropping out of high school; also called vocational training

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Education

Career Academies

Establish small learning communities in high schools focused on fields such as health care, finance, technology, communications, or public service

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Education

Chicago Child-Parent Centers

Provide preschool education and comprehensive support to families with low incomes, including small classes, student meals, and home visits with referrals for social service support as needed

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Education

Child bicycle helmet promotion programs

Promote child bicycle helmet use via bicycle safety education, media campaigns, or provision of free or subsidized helmets

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Community Safety

Child firearm access prevention laws

Impose penalties on adults for a child’s unsupervised access to firearms

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Community Safety

Clinic-based interventions for human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination

Combine information about HPV and the benefits of vaccination with efforts to support vaccine series completion (e.g., patient and parent education or reminders, physician education, etc.) in clinic-based settings

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Sexual Activity

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for offenders

Use individual or group therapy to help offenders discover and change the thought processes that lead to maladaptive behavior

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Community Safety

College access programs

Help high school students prepare for college, complete applications, and enroll, especially first-generation applicants and students from families with low incomes

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Education

Community health workers

Engage professional or lay health workers to provide education, referral and follow-up, case management, home visiting, etc. for those who experience barriers in accessing health care; also called promotoras(es) de salud or community health representatives

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Access to Care

Community policing

Implement a policing philosophy based on community partnership, organizational transformation, and problem solving techniques to proactively address public safety issues: also called community-oriented policing

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Community Safety

Community schools

Combine academic, mental and physical health, and social service resources in schools for students and families via partnerships with community organizations; also called community learning centers

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Education

Community water fluoridation

Adjust and monitor fluoride levels in public water supplies to reach and retain optimal fluoride concentrations

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Access to Care

Comprehensive risk reduction sexual education

Provide information about contraception and protection against sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in classroom or community settings

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Sexual Activity

Comprehensive school reform

Implement a coordinated effort to overhaul school operation, integrating curriculum, instruction, professional development, parent involvement, classroom and school management; also called school-wide or whole school reform

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Education

Condom availability programs

Provide condoms free of charge or at a reduced cost in community and school-based settings

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Sexual Activity

Cure Violence Health model

Detect and intervene in potentially violent situations, educate and mobilize communities, and connect high-risk individuals to services; formerly called Chicago CeaseFire

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Community Safety

Digital interventions to prevent HIV and other STIs

Provide tailored health information and assistance with decision making, behavior change, and emotional support via digital interactive programs

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Sexual Activity

Drug courts

Use specialized courts to offer criminal offenders with drug dependency problems an alternative to adjudication or incarceration

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Community Safety
  • Alcohol and Drug Use

Early childhood home visiting programs

Provide at-risk expectant parents and families with young children with information, support, and training regarding child health, development, and care from prenatal stages through early childhood via trained home visitors

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Community Safety
  • Family and Social Support

Early Head Start (EHS)

Provide child care, parent education, physical health and mental health services, and other family supports to pregnant women and parents with low incomes and children aged 0 to 3

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Education

Enhanced seat belt enforcement programs

Add publicity and other strategies (e.g., supplemental patrols, increased officers, etc.) to efforts to enforce existing seat belt laws

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Community Safety

Expedited partner therapy for treatable STIs

Provide prescriptions or medications to patients diagnosed with treatable STIs to give to their partners without provider visits; also called patient-delivered partner therapy (PDPT)

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Sexual Activity

Families and Schools Together

Convene small groups of families for facilitated weekly meetings that include a family meal, structured activities, parent support time, and parent-child play therapy

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Education

Family treatment drug courts

Use specialized courts to work with parents involved in the child welfare system who may lose custody of their children due to substance abuse

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Community Safety
  • Alcohol and Drug Use

Federally qualified health centers (FQHCs)

Increase support for non-profit health care organizations and deliver comprehensive care to uninsured, underinsured, and vulnerable patients regardless of ability to pay; often called community health centers (CHCs)

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Access to Care

Firearm licensing laws

Require a potential purchaser to obtain a permit or license before purchasing a firearm

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Community Safety

Firearm restrictions for people convicted of domestic violence

Prohibit firearm purchase and possession by people convicted in any court of a domestic violence misdemeanor or by people subject to a domestic violence protective/restraining order

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Community Safety

Focused deterrence strategies

Target a particular crime through law enforcement and community agency cooperation and coordination of various deterrents and social services; also called pulling levers policing

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Community Safety

Full-day kindergarten

Offer kindergarten programs for 4 to 6-year-old children, five days per week for at least five hours per day

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Education

Functional Family Therapy (FFT)

Introduce a short-term family-based intervention therapy focused on strengths, protective factors, and risk factors for youth with delinquency, violence, or substance abuse problems, and their families

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Community Safety

Group prenatal care

Provide prenatal care in a group setting, integrating health assessment, education, and support

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Access to Care

Health care screening & follow-up for intimate partner violence

Assesses past or present experience of intimate partner violence among female patients in health care settings and provides follow-ups such as counseling or referrals for services

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Community Safety

Health career recruitment for minority students

Recruit and train underrepresented minority (URM) students for careers in health fields via information about health careers, classes, practicum experiences, advising about college or medical school admissions, etc.

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Education

Health insurance enrollment outreach & support

Provide outreach and support to assist those whose employers do not offer affordable coverage, who are self-employed, or who are unemployed

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Access to Care

Health literacy interventions

Increase patients’ health-related knowledge via efforts to simplify health education materials, improve patient-provider communication, and increase overall literacy

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Access to Care
  • Quality of Care