Program Planning and Needs Assessment

To develop and implement community-based OT practice, OT practitioners needs to be competent in program planning and needs assessment

What is a program?

planned and coordinated for a specific purpose, addresses a specific need, outlines activities, and measures effectiveness

What is program development?

process involving continuous cycles of needs assessment, planning the intervention, implementation, and evaluation with feedback at each step to revise or improve previous steps

What is a needs assessment?

process determining the gaps between the current state and the desired outcomes; show how you will accomplish your goals

The cycle of program development….

• preplanning

• needs assessment

• determine priorities

• program plan development

• implementation

• process evaluation

• impact/outcome evaluation

• share results

• revise, expand, or terminate

Community Program Planning- Best practice

• plan with people (involve stakeholders)

• plan with data (demonstrate community needs- prevalence, epidemiological data, incidence)

• plan for performance (sustainability planning)

• plan for priorities (focus on greatest community needs)

• plan for evaluation (are we doing it right, are we doing the right things, how do we measure our impact)

• plan for clear and measurable program outcomes

Program development vs. OT Process

• Preplanning (Occupational profile)

• Assessment (analysis of performance)

• Program planning (intervention plan)

• Program implementation (intervention implementation)

• Program evaluation (intervention review)

• Sustainability planning (outcomes)

What is a community needs assessment?

• analysis of health problem based on info gathered about those with the need and the environment

• systematic process for collecting information

• involves understanding of the needs

What is a target population?

group of persons or population who share characteristics that identify them as the focus of health programming or have an unment health need

Community needs assessment process includes…

• population description

• problems or need description

• identification of unment needs

• environmental description and context

• prioritized needs, goals, and targeted outcomes

Needs assessment general steps:

• describe the population (gather data to get an accurate pic of the need of target population)

• describe the environment (gather data about the physical and social environment of the target population)

• analysis of needs (mixing of data and providing clear and realistic picture of programing needed)

Needs assesment data includes primary and secondary…

Primary data (data collected to support program)

• interviews, focus groups, surveys, community forums, asking key informants and stakeholders

Secondary data (existing data to help support community need)

• birth and death records, census data, prevalence data on diseases, disabiltiy, illness, injury, and risk, demographic data, social indicators

Example of community programming:

Target pop: elementary aged children in low income community with high rates of obesity

Community program: teach healthy habits through school-based gardening program

Data sources:

• primary: interview children on healthy food knowledge

• secondary: local obesity rates tracked by local health department

Statement of purpose:

after the needs assessment, set the stage for the program

• significance to OT- why an OT can address this need

• theory that guides your program and addresses your need

• contains evidence (data that informs decision-making)