Strategies

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

37 Strategies
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Behavioral interventions to prevent HIV and other STIs

Use individual-, group-, and community-level interventions to provide education, support, and training that can affect social norms about HIV and other STIs
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Sexual activity

Clinic-based interventions for human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination

Combine information about HPV and the benefits of vaccination with efforts to support vaccine series completion (e.g., patient and parent education or reminders, physician education, etc.) in clinic-based settings
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Sexual activity

Comprehensive clinic-based programs for pregnant & parenting teens

Address the needs of teenage parents via clinic-based programs that provide health care and family planning services as well as case management, counseling, and other supports
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care
  • Sexual activity

Comprehensive risk reduction sexual education

Provide information about contraception and protection against sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in classroom or community settings
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Sexual activity

Condom availability programs

Provide condoms free of charge or at a reduced cost in community and school-based settings
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Sexual activity

Digital interventions to prevent HIV and other STIs

Provide tailored health information and assistance with decision making, behavior change, and emotional support via digital interactive programs
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Sexual activity

E-cigarette regulations

Regulate use of e-cigarettes via age, sales and marketing restrictions, expanded smoke-free air policies in public and private worksites and designated spaces, etc.
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Tobacco use

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

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)
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Sexual activity

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
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Tobacco use

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
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Sexual activity

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

Intensive case management for pregnant & parenting teens

Provide pregnant or parenting teens with services based upon their needs (e.g., counseling, connections to health care or social services, academic support, etc.) in school or community settings
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Sexual activity

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
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Tobacco use

Long-acting reversible contraception access

Increase access to LARCs through cost reduction, comprehensive birth control counseling, provider training, efforts to ensure availability at local clinics, etc.
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care
  • Sexual activity

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

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
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Tobacco use

Minimum tobacco age laws

Minimum legal tobacco age (MLTA) laws specify the legal age to purchase or publicly consume tobacco products, including cigarettes, cigars, and e-cigarettes
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Tobacco use

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

Multi-component interventions to prevent teen pregnancy

Support initiatives that combine multiple components such as education, skills building, and contraceptive promotion to reduce pregnancy among youth
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Sexual activity

School or community-based abstinence-only education

Promote abstinence from sexual activity, generally only with mention of condoms and birth control to highlight failure rates
Evidence Rating:
Mixed Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Sexual activity

School-based tobacco prevention skill-building programs

Teach students personal and social skills to avoid tobacco use; led by teachers, health educators, or students in elementary schools, middle schools, or high schools
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Tobacco use

Secondhand smoke education interventions

Use counseling, informational materials, etc. to inform smokers and non-smokers of the harms of secondhand smoke and encourage them to implement home smoking bans
Evidence Rating:
Mixed Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Tobacco use

Smoke-free policies for indoor areas

Implement private sector rules or public sector regulations that prohibit smoking indoors or restrict it to designated, often outdoor, areas
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Tobacco use

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

Smoke-free policies for multi-unit housing

Implement private sector rules or public sector regulations that prohibit smoking in and around multi-unit housing
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Tobacco use

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

Smoke-free policies for outdoor areas

Implement private sector rules or public sector regulations that prohibit smoking outdoors or restrict it to designated areas
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Tobacco use

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

Statewide comprehensive tobacco programs

Coordinate state and community-level cessation and prevention interventions and provide information on the dangers of tobacco using a combination of educational, regulatory, clinical, social, and economic strategies
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Tobacco use

Teen pregnancy prevention programs

Support school-, community-, and clinic-based teen pregnancy prevention programs such as comprehensive sex education, HIV/STI prevention and youth development efforts, service learning, etc.
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Sexual activity

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

Tobacco cessation therapy affordability

Reduce patients’ out-of-pocket costs for tobacco cessation therapies such as nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and cessation counseling participation
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Tobacco use

Tobacco marketing restrictions

Limit promotion, placement, flavoring, or pricing of tobacco products via regulation
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Tobacco use

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

Tobacco quitlines

Deliver phone-based counseling to tobacco users who want to quit, usually with follow-up calls proactively scheduled after initial contact
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Tobacco use

Tobacco retailer licensing

Require retailers to purchase licenses to sell tobacco products; retailers must follow all tobacco control laws to keep licenses
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Tobacco use

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

Tobacco retailer location restrictions

Set the number, type, proximity, and density of tobacco retailers, especially near homes and schools, via state or local zoning, licensing restrictions, or other regulations
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Tobacco use

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

Tobacco taxes

Increase tobacco price per unit through taxes at the federal, state, or local level
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Tobacco use

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies