community assessment

types of community needs assessment

percieved needs of community

• windshield survey

• problem-oriented assessment

• community assets assessment

• social-ecological model assessment

• comprehensive assessment

windshield survey; familiarization assessment

gather visual and physical dynamic data collected from geographical information, objective

• look at physical, economic, services, social resources by walking/driving in the neighborhood and/or talking to individuals

• provides context of the community, may need supplementary data for more formal studies

• ex) number of grocery stores, public transportation present, number of abandoned lots, sidewalk condition, drug use occurance, street lights, ebt acceptance, libraries present

problem-oriented assessment

looks at specific health issue and describes contextual issues associated with need

• used when windshield survey data is insufficient and comprehensive assessment is not applicable

• gather data on targeted problem, either qualitative or quantitative methods

  • data addresses..

    • magnitude of problem (prevalence, incidence)

    • precursor of problem

    • population characteristics (community resources, strengths/weaknesses)

    • attitudes and behaviors of population

• ex) interview health providers about diabetes/obesity/overdose incidents

community assets assessment; asset mapping

focuses on the strength and capacity of community, not a pathology model (diagnose diseases)

• balances needs and resources seen

• three levels of assets:

  • individual taltent/skills/experience → lived experience

  • local organization/institution → hospitals

  • institutional influence from outside community → government aid

• ex) surveys, catalog of resources, informal networks w/ community, local businesses

social-ecological model assessment

combination of the ecological model and social model, overlap with one another

• social factors

  • individual → relationship → community → societal

• ecological factors

  • internal → interpersonal → institutional → community-related → public policy

comprehensive assessment model

seeking all relevant community health information

• systems of the community

• how power is distributed

• decisions are made

• how changes occured

very expensive, time-consuming assessment

1. literature review

2. survey public

3. interviewing key informants of major systems

4. more detailed survey and intensive review of systems

• ex) zip codes, race, health issues present, environmental health, socioeconomic factors in place

community assessment methods

1. surveys

2. descriptive epidemiologic studies

3. geographic information system analysis

4. community forums and social media

5. focus groups

surveys

determaines enviornment, socioeconomic, behavioral conditions that affect community’s ability to control disease/promote health

• can contain quantitative and qualitative data

• ex) questionnaire, telephone call, in-person interview that has closed-ended questions

descriptive epidemiologic studies

describes patterns of health problem that occur naturally in a population

• counts # of cases

• rates % in a certain amount of time

  • prevalence: # of existing cases, snapshot in specific point of time

  • incidence: # of new cases over a specific period

• ex) low incidence, high prevalence = chronic disease, longer duration vs. high incidence, low prevalence = acute disease or death

geographic information system analysis (GIS)

tool that collects/organizes/displays public health data

• combines medical geography and spatial epidemiology

• widely used for research of health disparities, resource availability, and health-related behaviors

community forums and social media

members are invited from all segments of the community, elicits public opinion on an issue as issues can be addressed

• yields qualitative data

• diverse amount of people → informs needs and allows action of connection to occur

• inexpensive, quick

focus groups

participants are selected (homogenous variables) to solicit in-depth analysis of problem

• facilitator/interviewer guides discussion with set of questions → verbal messages and behavioral data are evaluated and transcripted to create common themes

  • qualitative data analysis

• relatively inexpensive and efficient

• ex) women talking about birth plan

five stages of group development

1. forming → designate leader to guide group, typically differences in opinion

2. storming → differences emerge, agenda occur, challenge one another or struggle with roles

3. norming → group shows shared sense of belonging, creativity and shared ideas form

4. performing → work subgroups, independant, it is cohesive and effective as goal-oriented

5. adjurning → wrapping up project, members happy with project finished yet sad with ending, starts to disband

sources of community data

primary: from the source itself

• ex) interviews, focus groups, survey

secondary: from other sources that compiled data

• local → health department, hospital records, school district reports

• state → washington state board of health

• national → cdc, agencies

• international → who