Strategies

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

22 Strategies

Advocacy for victims of intimate partner violence

Work to partner with victims/survivors of intimate partner violence, help them with safety plans, and link them to community services (e.g., legal, housing, financial advice, emergency shelter, etc.)
Evidence Rating:
Insufficient Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Safety and social support

Campus alcohol bans

Restrict alcohol consumption anywhere on a college or university campus or only in specific areas (e.g., residence halls)
Evidence Rating:
Insufficient Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Alcohol and drug use

Community kitchens for nutrition education

Use existing kitchen spaces for community members to share knowledge, resources, and labor to prepare, cook, and consume food, often with nutrition education provided for participants experiencing food insecurity
Evidence Rating:
Insufficient Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise
  • Civic and community resources

Designated driver promotion programs

Encourage use of designated drivers via population-based mass media campaigns, incentive programs based in drinking establishments, and other efforts
Evidence Rating:
Insufficient Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Alcohol and drug use

Georgia Fatherhood Program

Provide employment-based services for non-custodial fathers who pay child support and experience a job loss or a decrease in income
Evidence Rating:
Insufficient Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Safety and social support

Hospital wristband color standardization

Establish national standards for the colors of patient wristbands used to alert health care providers about specific conditions such as allergies or elevated fall risk
Evidence Rating:
Insufficient Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care

Housing mediation services

Facilitate mediation between tenants and landlords to resolve conflict and prevent eviction
Evidence Rating:
Insufficient Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Housing and transportation

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine education

Inform adolescents, young adults, and parents about HPV and its consequences, as well as the benefits of vaccination, via videos, printed materials, online content, or in-person efforts
Evidence Rating:
Insufficient Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Sexual activity

J-1 physician visa waivers

Expand use of J-1 physician visa waivers for foreign national physicians who have trained in the U.S. and will serve patients in designated Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs)
Evidence Rating:
Insufficient Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

Job-sharing programs

Offer flexible working arrangements, allowing the duties of a single full-time position to be covered by two part-time employees
Evidence Rating:
Insufficient Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Income, employment and wealth

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices

Keg registration laws

Require wholesalers or retailers to record an identification number for beer kegs and a purchaser’s information (e.g., name and address, date of birth, etc.) at the time of purchase
Evidence Rating:
Insufficient Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Alcohol and drug use

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

Mass media campaigns against underage drinking

Use television, radio, print, and social media efforts to increase awareness of underage drinking and its consequences
Evidence Rating:
Insufficient Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Alcohol and drug use

Mass media campaigns for physical activity

Provide messages that support physical activity to large and broad audiences using television, social media, radio, billboards, newspapers, and other print media
Evidence Rating:
Insufficient Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise

National Fatherhood Initiative's 24/7 Dad

Help men improve their parenting skills and fathering knowledge via a voluntary, comprehensive fatherhood program
Evidence Rating:
Insufficient Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Safety and social support

National Fatherhood Initiative's InsideOut Dad

Connect incarcerated fathers to their families and prepare them for release via small group education sessions that address fathering knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors
Evidence Rating:
Insufficient Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Safety and social support

On-site child care

Provide employees with child care options at work; care may be provided free of charge, partially subsidized as part of an employee benefit package, or offered at market rates
Evidence Rating:
Insufficient Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Income, employment and wealth

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices

Sales to intoxicated persons (SIP) law enforcement

Increase enforcement of laws that prohibit alcoholic beverage service to intoxicated customers, usually with fines, imprisonment, or revocation of a license
Evidence Rating:
Insufficient Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Alcohol and drug use

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices

School-community liaisons

Provide students from public schools, from low income backgrounds, or who have a high risk of dropping out and their families with information about social services and health care supports; also called community resource or family and community liaisons
Evidence Rating:
Insufficient Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Education

Seller & server minimum age

Require a minimum age for sellers in off-premise locations that sell alcohol and servers and bartenders in on-premise locations
Evidence Rating:
Insufficient Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Alcohol and drug use

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

Sports-related concussion education

Educate youth and college athletes, coaches, and parents about the severity of concussions in sports, proper prevention, detection, reporting, and treatment
Evidence Rating:
Insufficient Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Safety and social support

Tobacco cessation contests

Encourage participants to quit using tobacco by a set date or during a specific time period and give successful participants a chance to win financial rewards or other prizes; often called Quit & Win contests
Evidence Rating:
Insufficient Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Tobacco use