Strategies

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

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

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Scientifically Supported

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 from birth to age three

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Scientifically Supported

Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)

Expand refundable earned income tax credits for working individuals and families with low to moderate incomes

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Scientifically Supported

Electric vehicle initiatives

Replace internal combustion engine vehicles with all-electric vehicles through financial incentives, regulations, and multi-component initiatives

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Scientifically Supported

Enhanced enforcement of laws prohibiting alcohol sales to minors

Initiate or increase retailer compliance checks, shoulder tap operations, parking lot observation outside alcohol establishments for laws that prohibit alcohol sales to minors

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Scientifically Supported

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

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Scientifically Supported

Exercise prescriptions

Provide patients with prescriptions for exercise plans, often accompanied by progress checks at office visits, counseling, activity logs, and exercise testing

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Scientifically Supported

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)

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Scientifically Supported

Extracurricular activities for social engagement

Support organized social, art, or physical activities for school-aged youth outside of the school time

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Scientifically Supported

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

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Scientifically Supported

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 use; also called family treatment courts, family dependency treatment courts, or family drug courts

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Scientifically Supported

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)

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Scientifically Supported

Firearm licensing laws

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

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Scientifically Supported

Flexible scheduling

Offer employees control over an aspect of their schedule through arrangements such as flex time, flex hours, compressed work weeks, or self-scheduled shift work

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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

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Scientifically Supported

Fruit & vegetable incentive programs

Offer participants with low incomes matching funds to purchase healthy foods, especially fresh fruits and vegetables; often called bonus dollars, market bucks, produce coupons, or nutrition incentives

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Scientifically Supported

Full child support pass-through and disregard

Adopt policies that allow custodial parents who receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) to collect all child support paid by the non-custodial parent; no portion is retained by the state

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Scientifically Supported

Full-day kindergarten

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

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Scientifically Supported

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

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Scientifically Supported

Group-based parenting programs

Teach parenting skills in a group setting using a standardized curriculum, often based on behavioral or cognitive-behavioral approaches and focused on parents of at-risk children

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Scientifically Supported

Health care provider reminder systems for tobacco cessation

Implement systems that help health professionals support patient tobacco cessation, often with referrals, self-help pamphlets, and pharmacotherapy

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Scientifically Supported

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.

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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

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Healthy home environment assessments

Train volunteers, professionals, or paraprofessionals to help residents assess and reduce environmental home health risks and recommend low cost changes (e.g., improved ventilation, integrated pest management, etc.)

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Scientifically Supported

Healthy school lunch initiatives

Modify the school lunch food environment or school lunch schedules by increasing the convenience of healthy foods, providing healthy options, or ensuring students have enough time to eat

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Healthy vending machine options

Increase healthy options in vending machines by reducing the price of healthy choices, increasing the number of healthy choices compared to unhealthy choices, etc.

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Scientifically Supported

High school completion programs

Provide supports such as mentoring, counseling, or vocational training, or change the school environment to help students complete high school

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Scientifically Supported

High school completion programs for pregnant and parenting teens

Provide pregnant and parenting teens with services such as education, vocational training, case management, health care, child care, and transportation assistance to support high school completion

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Scientifically Supported

HIV/STI partner notification by providers

Notify partners exposed to an STI of their risk, encourage testing, and refer to services; also called contact tracing, or partner counseling and referral services

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Scientifically Supported

Home water temperature safety education

Educate families about safe tap water temperatures during prenatal or well-baby visits at clinic or home visits; often with home safety checks or provision of home water temperature safety equipment

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Scientifically Supported

Hot spot policing

Focus police resources and enforcement on high-activity crime locations within a community (e.g., street blocks and buildings) using policing tactics such as increasing enforcement time, problem-oriented policing, etc.

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Housing First

Provide rapid access to permanent housing and support (e.g., crisis intervention, needs assessment, case management), usually for chronically homeless individuals with persistent mental illness or substance abuse issues

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Housing rehabilitation loan & grant programs

Provide funding, primarily to families with low or middle incomes, to repair, improve, or modernize dwellings and remove health or safety hazards

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Ignition interlock devices

Strengthen policies that mandate ignition interlock installation in vehicles to prevent operation by a driver with a high blood alcohol concentration

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Incredible Years

Support young children who exhibit or are at risk for behavioral problems with interpersonal relationship training and parents and teachers who are trained to meet their needs

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Scientifically Supported

Individually-adapted physical activity programs

Teach behavioral skills that can help individuals incorporate physical activity into their daily routines

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Scientifically Supported

Integrated long-term care for community-dwelling frail elders

Support a collaborative approach by a multidisciplinary team of professionals working to meet the full range of long-term care (LTC) needs for frail elderly patients living in community settings

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Scientifically Supported

Integrated pest management for indoor use

Support a four-tiered approach to indoor pest control that minimizes potential hazards to people, property, and the environment

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Scientifically Supported

Integrated pest management (IPM) for agriculture & outdoor use

Support a four-tiered approach to outdoor pest control that minimizes potential hazards to people, property, and the environment

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Scientifically Supported

Internet-based tobacco cessation interventions

Use websites, computer programs, and other electronic means to provide information, strategies, or behavioral support to tobacco users who want to quit, sometimes with counseling or pharmacotherapy

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Scientifically Supported

K-12 school finance reforms

Change state-level school finance systems to increase funding for school districts serving large populations of students from low income backgrounds, students of color, and students with disabilities, special needs, or limited English skills

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Scientifically Supported

Kinship foster care for children in the child welfare system

Arrange full-time foster care by relatives or adults who are not a child’s parent but have a family relationship with the child when a child is removed from home due to a safety concern

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Scientifically Supported

Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) in middle schools

Emphasize high expectations for all students, parent and student commitment, empowered principals, and regular student assessments that inform continuous improvement in a lengthened school-year and school-day

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Labor unions

Organize workers to bargain collectively for improved wages, benefits, and working conditions

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Later middle and high school start times

Delay school start times for middle and high schools to better align with adolescent sleep-wake cycles; often until 8:30 a.m. or later

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Scientifically Supported

Lead paint abatement programs

Eliminate lead-based paint and contaminated dust by removing or encapsulating lead paint, or removing lead painted fixtures and surfaces

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Legal support for tenants in eviction proceedings

Provide legal representation for tenants with low incomes in eviction proceedings or offer limited legal assistance to prepare tenants to represent themselves in court

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Mass media campaigns against tobacco use

Use broad media-based efforts to educate large groups of current and potential tobacco users about the dangers of tobacco use

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Scientifically Supported

Medical homes

Provide continuous, comprehensive, whole person primary care that uses a coordinated team of medical providers across the health care system

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Scientifically Supported

Mental health benefits legislation

Regulate mental health insurance to increase access to mental health services, including treatment for substance use disorders

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

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