Strategies

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

85 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; can include partnerships with local farmers markets via FVRx programs

Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion
  • 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
  • Diet and Exercise

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
  • Diet and Exercise
  • Family and Social Support

Participatory budgeting

Engage community members to determine how public budgets are spent, ideally to improve neighborhood conditions and reduce inequality.

Evidence Rating:
Mixed Evidence
  • Family and Social Support

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
  • 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
  • Diet and Exercise

Point-of-decision prompts for physical activity

Place motivational signs on or near stairwells, elevators, and escalators that encourage individuals to use stairs

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Diet and Exercise

Proper drug disposal programs

Establish programs that accept expired, unwanted, or unused medicines from designated users and dispose of them responsibly

Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion
  • Alcohol and Drug Use
  • Air and Water Quality

Public libraries for community building

Lend materials, offer gathering space, and provide educational, civic, and social programming; open to the community and publicly funded

Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion
  • Family and Social Support

Recreational sports leagues for adults

Offer opportunities for adults to play athletic games such as soccer, softball, kickball, basketball, etc. at beginner, intermediate, and competitive levels

Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion
  • Diet and Exercise