Strategies

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

118 Strategies
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Rollover protective structures (ROPS)

Attach metal bars, frames, or crush proof cabs to a tractor that provide a safety zone for an operator in the event of a rollover or overturn
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Safety and social support

Safe Routes to Schools

Promote walking and biking to school through education, incentives, and environmental changes; often called SRTS
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Housing and transportation
  • Diet and exercise
  • Climate

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 Conditions

  • Safety and social support

School fruit & vegetable gardens

Establish designated areas where students can garden with guidance, often with nutrition and food preparation lessons and opportunities for taste tasting and hands-on learning
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise
  • Climate

School nutrition standards

Regulate the quality of food that can be sold to students through the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), à la carte options, vending machines, etc.
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise
  • Climate

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

School-based intimate partner violence prevention programs

Provide youth with teen dating violence education that addresses healthy relationships, gender norms, relationship coercion, and violence in a school setting
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Safety and social support

Scrap programs for old vehicles

Provide incentives to trade in old cars or light duty trucks with low fuel efficiency and high emissions and buy new vehicles with higher efficiency and lower emissions; also called scrappage or vehicle early retirement programs
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Air, water and land
  • Climate

Social service integration

Coordinate access to services across delivery systems and disciplinary boundaries (e.g., housing, disability, physical health, mental health, child welfare, workforce services, etc.)
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Safety and social support

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices

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

Strong graduated driver licensing laws

Strengthen laws that allow young drivers to gain driving experience in stages; often includes passenger and nighttime driving limitations and higher minimum ages for learner’s permits, intermediate, and full licenses
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Safety and social support

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies