Strategies

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

65 Strategies
Clear all

Rural training in medical education

Expand medical school training and learning experiences focused on the skills necessary to practice successfully in rural areas

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Access to Care

Rural transportation services

Establish transportation services for areas with low population densities using publicly funded buses and vans on a set schedule, dial-a-ride transit, volunteer ridesharing, etc.

Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion
  • Access to Care
  • Housing and Transit

School dental programs

Provide sealants, fluoride treatment, screening, and other preventive dental care on school grounds via partnerships with dental professionals

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Access to Care

School-based health centers

Provide health care services on school premises to attending elementary, middle, and high school students; physical and mental health services provided by teams of nurses, nurse practitioners, and physicians

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Education
  • Access to Care

Social media for civic participation

Support individual and group use of internet-based tools to receive news, communicate or share information, collaborate on ideas, mobilize networks, and make collective decisions

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Family and Social Support

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
  • Family and Social Support

Synthetic progesterone (17P) access

Ensure appropriate access to 17P, a synthetic version of the hormone progesterone, by identifying high-risk women, reducing barriers to treatment receipt and completion, coordinating care, etc.

Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion
  • Access to Care

Telemedicine

Deliver consultative, diagnostic, and treatment services remotely, especially for patients who live in areas with limited access to care or who experience transportation or mobility barriers; sometimes called telehealth

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Access to Care

Telemental health services

Provide mental health care services (e.g., psychotherapy or counseling) via telephone or videoconference

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Access to Care

Text message-based health interventions

Provide reminders, education, or self-management assistance for health conditions, especially chronic diseases, via text message

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Access to Care

Trauma-informed approaches to community building

Support and strengthen traumatized and distressed residents and communities and address effects of community trauma (e.g., poverty, violence, structural racism, etc.) via a comprehensive, multi-stakeholder, and multilevel approach

Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion
  • Family and Social Support

Voter registration initiatives

Increase the number of registered voters through initiatives that reduce barriers and expand accessibility, including automatic voter registration (AVR), voter registration drives, easing voter registration requirements, and expanding registration sites

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Family and Social Support

Voter turnout initiatives

Increase voter turnout through get-out-the-vote campaigns and initiatives to make voting more convenient such as allowing early in-person voting, vote-by-mail, or expanding polling locations and hours

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Family and Social Support

Youth civics education

Teach students attitudes, skills, knowledge, and behavior needed to participate in and contribute to a democracy

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Family and Social Support
  • Education

Youth leadership programs

Provide youth with leadership building opportunities, often through social activities such as advocacy groups, peer education, youth-led participatory research, and local government youth advisory councils and boards

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Family and Social Support