Strategies

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

319 Strategies
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School-community liaisons

Provide students from public schools, from low income backgrounds, or who have a high risk of dropping out and their families with information about social services and health care supports; also called community resource or family and community liaisons

Evidence Rating:
Insufficient Evidence
  • Education

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
  • Air and Water Quality

Screen time interventions for children

Encourage children to spend time away from TV and other stationary screen media, often as part of a multi-faceted effort to increase physical activity and improve nutrition

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Diet and Exercise

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
  • Tobacco Use

Sector-based workforce initiatives

Provide industry-focused education and job training based on the needs of regional employers within specific sectors

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Employment

Seller & server minimum age

Require a minimum age for sellers in off-premise locations that sell alcohol and servers and bartenders in on-premise locations

Evidence Rating:
Insufficient Evidence
  • Alcohol and Drug Use

Service-enriched housing

Provide permanent, basic rental housing with social services available on-site or by referral, usually for families with low incomes, older adults, veterans, or people with disabilities

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Housing and Transit

Shared use agreements

Create contracts that support community access to existing public, private, or nonprofit facilities before or after business hours; also called joint use, open use, or community use agreements

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Diet and Exercise

Small elementary classes

Reduce the number of students in elementary school classrooms

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Education

Smart Start North Carolina

Provide comprehensive early childhood services, including high quality educational child care, health, and family support to address local needs

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Education

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
  • Tobacco Use

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
  • Tobacco Use

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
  • Tobacco Use

Social host laws

Adopt laws that hold private property owners who provide alcohol to minors or obviously intoxicated individuals on their property liable if someone is killed or injured as a result

Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion
  • Alcohol and Drug Use

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

Soda taxes

Increase the price of sugar sweetened beverages (e.g., soda) by adding an excise or sales tax

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Diet and Exercise

State-level minimum nurse staffing requirements for nursing homes

Establish state level regulations that require nursing homes to employ at least a set number of licensed and non-licensed nursing staff, often set in terms of staff hours per resident day

Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion
  • Quality of Care

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
  • Tobacco Use

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 Safety

Summer learning programs

Provide academic instruction to students during the summer, often along with enrichment activities such as art or outdoor activities

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Education

Summer youth employment programs

Provide short-term employment opportunities for youth, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Community Safety
  • Employment

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits

Explore ways to increase Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program benefit amounts for aged, blind, or disabled individuals, including children, with little or no income

Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion
  • Income

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

Syringe services programs

Provide sterile injection equipment and often other treatment and referral services to people who inject drugs; also called needle or syringe exchange programs and needle syringe programs

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Alcohol and Drug Use

Tax increment financing (TIF) for affordable housing

Create designated tax districts that generate revenue to invest in affordable housing initiatives, blight remediation, and economic development efforts

Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion
  • Housing and Transit

Technology enhanced classroom instruction

Incorporate technology into classroom instruction via computer-assisted instruction programs, computer-managed learning programs, use of interactive white boards, etc.

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Education

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
  • Sexual Activity

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

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
  • 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
  • Tobacco Use

Tobacco marketing restrictions

Limit promotion, placement, flavoring, or pricing of tobacco products via regulation

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Tobacco Use

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
  • 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
  • Tobacco Use

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
  • Tobacco Use

Tobacco taxes

Increase tobacco price per unit through taxes at the federal, state, or local level

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Tobacco Use

Traffic calming

Modify the built environment to affect traffic speed and patterns via speed humps, pedestrian center crossing islands, roundabouts, etc.

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Housing and Transit
  • Community Safety

Transitional and subsidized jobs

Establish time-limited, subsidized, paid jobs to help individuals with barriers to employment transition to unsubsidized employment

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Employment

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

Trauma-informed juvenile justice systems

Support a trauma-informed juvenile justice system to recognize and respond to trauma’s impact on youth through staff training and broad adoption of trauma-informed practices and policies

Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion
  • Community Safety

Trauma-informed schools

Adopt a multi-tiered approach within schools to address the needs of trauma-exposed youth, including school-wide changes, screenings, and individual intensive support

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Education

Treatment Foster Care

Place youth with mental, emotional, and behavioral health challenges in foster families that provide a structured, nurturing, therapeutic environment; also called Therapeutic Foster Care (TFC)

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Community Safety

Treatment Foster Care Oregon

Place severely and chronically delinquent youth in foster families that are trained in structured behavior management and connected to TFCO program staff; formerly called Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Community Safety

Unemployment insurance (UI)

Increase compensation provided to unemployed workers looking for jobs by expanding eligibility, amount, or duration of benefits

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Income

Unhealthy snack taxes

Increase the price of snack products high in sugar and fat by adding an excise or sales tax

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Diet and Exercise

Universal basic income

Provide all individuals with regular cash transfers, without conditions, over their lifetimes

Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion
  • Income

Universal distracted driving laws

Prohibit all drivers from texting or talking on a cell phone while driving

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Community Safety

Universal firearm background checks

Require both licensed firearm dealers and unlicensed (i.e., private) firearm sellers to conduct background checks of potential firearm purchasers; also known as comprehensive background checks

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Community Safety

Universal motorcycle helmet laws

Require all motorcycle operators and passengers to wear a helmet; laws are established statewide and may also include mopeds and scooters

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Community Safety