Strategies

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

74 Strategies

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 Conditions

  • Safety and social support

Extracurricular activities for social engagement

Support organized social, art, or physical activities for school-aged youth outside of the school time
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Safety and social support
  • Civic and community resources

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

Community Conditions

  • Education
  • Safety and social support

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
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Safety and social support
  • Alcohol and drug use

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

Father involvement programs

Support fathers’ active involvement in child rearing via various father-focused or family-focused interventions
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Safety and social support

Firearm licensing laws

Require a potential purchaser to obtain a permit or license before purchasing a firearm
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Safety and social support

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

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 Conditions

  • Safety and social support

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

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 Conditions

  • Safety and social support

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices

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 Conditions

  • Safety and social support

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