<P> In recent years, public agencies and non-governmental organizations have been exploring and adopting best practices when delivering health and human services . In these settings, the use of the terms "promising practices", "best practices", and "evidence - based practices" is common and often confusing as there is not a general consensus on what constitutes promising practices or best practices . In this context, the use of the terms "best practices" and "evidence - based practices" are often used interchangeably . Evidence - based practices are methods or techniques that have documented outcomes and ability to replicate as key factors . </P> <P> Despite these challenges, the literature suggests that there is some common use of and criteria for identifying best practices . For example, a general working definition used by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in referring to a promising practice is defined as one with at least preliminary evidence of effectiveness in small - scale interventions or for which there is potential for generating data that will be useful for making decisions about taking the intervention to scale and generalizing the results to diverse populations and settings . </P> <P> Since evidence of effectiveness, the potential for taking the intervention to scale and generalizing the results to other populations and settings are key factors for best practices, the manner in which a method or intervention becomes a best practice can take some time and effort . The table below demonstrates the process for a promising practice to achieve the status of research - validated best practice . </P> <Table> <Tr> <Td> Research Validated Best Practice </Td> <Td> A program, activity or strategy that has the highest degree of proven effectiveness supported by objective and comprehensive research and evaluation . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Field Tested Best Practice </Td> <Td> A program, activity or strategy that has been shown to work effectively and produce successful outcomes and is supported to some degree by subjective and objective data sources . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Promising Practice </Td> <Td> A program, activity or strategy that has worked within one organization and shows promise during its early stages for becoming a best practice with long - term sustainable impact . A promising practice must have some objective basis for claiming effectiveness and must have the potential for replication among other organizations . </Td> </Tr> </Table>

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