Strategies

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

137 Strategies
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Nutrition prescriptions

Provide prescriptions with healthy eating goals for patients and families, often accompanied by progress checks at office visits and vouchers or other healthy food provisions; can include partnerships with local farmers markets or grocery stores
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise

Online grocery stores

Use internet-based shopping sites to supply refrigerated, frozen, and non-perishable groceries for residential ordering and delivery
Evidence Rating:
Insufficient Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise

Open gym time

Offer time during the school day for children to play in the gym, often during lunch period; shared use agreements can expand open gym opportunities to community members outside school hours
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise
  • Civic and community resources

Open Streets

Allow community members to gather, socialize, walk, run, bike, skate, etc. on streets temporarily to closed to motorized traffic; also called Ciclovía programs
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise
  • Civic and community resources
  • Climate

Patient financial incentives for preventive care

Use payments, vouchers, and other incentives to encourage patients to undergo preventive care such as screenings, vaccinations, etc.
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care

Patient navigators

Provide culturally sensitive assistance and care coordination, and guide patients through available medical, insurance, and social support; also called systems navigators
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices

Patient safety checklists

Use visual tools to prompt safe practices, standardize communication, and ensure no step is forgotten before, during, or after a medical procedure or other health care situation
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care

Patient shared decision making

Support joint decision making between health care practitioners and patients through shared decision making (SDM); part of patient-centered care
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices
  • Worldviews, culture and norms

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

Community Conditions

  • 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

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise
  • Civic and community resources
  • Climate