stanhope community assessment outline
TRANSCRIPT
-
8/4/2019 Stanhope Community Assessment Outline
1/5
Stanhope: Foundations of Nursing in the Community: Community-Oriented
Practice, 3rd
Edition
Community Assessment Applied with Answers
The Community
GENERAL ASSESSMENT INFORMATION
Phase One: Defining the Community
Clearly delineate the following dimensions before starting the process of community assessment:
Who is the specific population that is being assessed? What is the role of this population within the community? What are the boundaries of this group?
Does this community exist within a certain neighborhood? Are there geographic boundaries that separate this group from others? Is the community limited to a specific setting?
Where is this group located? Why is a community assessment being performed? What purpose will it serve? When will the community assessment be conducted? Are there time limitations for
completing the assessment?
What resources are available to fund the community assessment?Phase Two: AssessmentAfter the community has been defined, the next phase is assessment. On the following pages,
several resources and methods are described that can be used for data gathering and data
generation. This is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of resources and methods but rather astarting point for data collection and generation during your community assessment.
Available monetary resources and the time frame for completion of the assessment mayinfluence which methods are used. Nonetheless, these items should be reviewed to determine
what information will be useful and should be collected about the community that is being
assessed. It is not necessary to use all of these resources and methods; however, using a variety
of methods is helpful when trying to discover the needs of a community.
A.Data Gathering (collecting information that already exists)
Demographics of the Community
When demographic data are collected, it is useful to collect data from a variety of levels, sothat comparisons can be made.
If the population being assessed is located within a specific setting, it may be best to contactthat agency to retrieve specific information about the population.
The following resources provide a broad overview of the demographics of a city, county, orstate:
-
8/4/2019 Stanhope Community Assessment Outline
2/5
American Fact FinderFind population, housing, economic, and geographic data foryour city, based on U.S. Census data:
http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en
State and County Quick FactsEasy access to facts about people, business, andgeography, based on U.S. Census data:
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/ Epodunk: The Power of PlaceObtain information from the U.S. Census Bureaus 2000
Census about a specific city or county and links to other useful websites:
www.epodunk.com
U.S. Census Bureau:www.census.gov/main/www/cen2000.html
Information From Government Agencies
Healthy People 2010This resource, published by the U.S. Department of Health andHuman Services, identifies health improvement goals and objectives for the country to bereached by the year 2010:
www.healthypeople.gov/ National Center for Health StatisticsThis agency is part of the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC); this website provides statistical information about the health ofAmericans:
www.cdc.gov/nchs/Default.htm
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)The CDC website contains a largeamount of information related to the health of the American population. The search enginewithin this website can be used to find relevant information:
www.cdc.gov
Federal agencies with statistical programs:www.fedstats.gov/agencies
Every state in the United States also has its own specific health improvement plan and goalsthat are based on theHealthy People 2010 document. This information may be available on
the particular states health department website.
State and local health departments also provide information related to vital statistics for thecommunity.
Other Data Sources
Assess NowDeveloped through a joint project between the Washington State Departmentof Health and the University of Washington Northwest Center for Public Health Practice, thissite contains links to a wide variety of Internet resources for all 50 states:
www.assessnow.info/
Other relevant data sources may be found by conducting Internet searches related to the topicbeing examined through the community assessment.
After data are collected from various sources, it is important to review the information and to
identify assets and areas of needed improvement in the community by comparing local data (if
available) against state and national data. This will facilitate organization of the information thathas already been obtained and will provide direction for the next step of the process.
http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=enhttp://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=enhttp://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/http://www.epodunk.com/http://www.epodunk.com/http://www.census.gov/main/www/cen2000.htmlhttp://www.census.gov/main/www/cen2000.htmlhttp://c/Users/sbaldwin1/Desktop/COURSES/Nurs%204660/Nurs%204660%20Clinical%20SP%2011/www.healthypeople.gov/http://c/Users/sbaldwin1/Desktop/COURSES/Nurs%204660/Nurs%204660%20Clinical%20SP%2011/www.healthypeople.gov/http://c/Users/sbaldwin1/Desktop/COURSES/Nurs%204660/Nurs%204660%20Clinical%20SP%2011/www.cdc.gov/nchs/Default.htmhttp://c/Users/sbaldwin1/Desktop/COURSES/Nurs%204660/Nurs%204660%20Clinical%20SP%2011/www.cdc.gov/nchs/Default.htmhttp://www.cdc.gov/http://www.cdc.gov/http://c/Users/sbaldwin1/Desktop/COURSES/Nurs%204660/Nurs%204660%20Clinical%20SP%2011/www.fedstats.gov/agencieshttp://c/Users/sbaldwin1/Desktop/COURSES/Nurs%204660/Nurs%204660%20Clinical%20SP%2011/www.fedstats.gov/agencieshttp://c/Users/sbaldwin1/Desktop/COURSES/Nurs%204660/Nurs%204660%20Clinical%20SP%2011/www.assessnow.info/http://c/Users/sbaldwin1/Desktop/COURSES/Nurs%204660/Nurs%204660%20Clinical%20SP%2011/www.assessnow.info/http://c/Users/sbaldwin1/Desktop/COURSES/Nurs%204660/Nurs%204660%20Clinical%20SP%2011/www.assessnow.info/http://c/Users/sbaldwin1/Desktop/COURSES/Nurs%204660/Nurs%204660%20Clinical%20SP%2011/www.fedstats.gov/agencieshttp://www.cdc.gov/http://c/Users/sbaldwin1/Desktop/COURSES/Nurs%204660/Nurs%204660%20Clinical%20SP%2011/www.cdc.gov/nchs/Default.htmhttp://c/Users/sbaldwin1/Desktop/COURSES/Nurs%204660/Nurs%204660%20Clinical%20SP%2011/www.healthypeople.gov/http://www.census.gov/main/www/cen2000.htmlhttp://www.epodunk.com/http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en -
8/4/2019 Stanhope Community Assessment Outline
3/5
B.Data Generation(data are developed that do not already exist)
Windshield SurveysWith the use of public transportation or by driving a vehicle around the community, you can
assess common characteristics of the community. Key observations to make during a windshield
survey include the following: Age of the homes in the community Location of parks and other recreational areas Amount of space between homes and businesses Neighborhood hangouts Transportation in the community Quality of streets and sidewalks Types/numbers of stores and other businesses People out in the community Cleanliness of the community Billboards or other media displays Places of worshipParticipant ObservationSpend time observing the population you are assessing. Through observation of interactions
among group members, much can be learned about the community, including the following:
Developmental level of the population Effectiveness of peer-to-peer interactions Effectiveness of peer-to-peer interactions Safety in the environmentInformant Interviews
Informants may be people who are familiar with and interact with the population on a regularbasis.
Examples of information you can obtain from key informants include the following:
Strengths/assets of the community Areas of improvement for the community Concerns of community members Access to health careFocus Groups
Use of focus groups (usually small groups of 6 to 12 people) can be helpful when you aregathering information about specific areas of concern within the population. Focus groups
provide information through open dialogue about the population, whereas an interview or survey
yields only individual responses.
Using focus groups may be effective for assessing the following:
Satisfaction with services provided Community resources used
-
8/4/2019 Stanhope Community Assessment Outline
4/5
Transportation issues within the community Safety within the community General concerns of population membersSurveys
Surveys can be used to collect data from the community. Selecting a sample of the targetpopulation may prove helpful in the collection of data that are easier to analyze. It is important toensure that the sample is representative of the target population.
A survey should be developed that takes into consideration the developmental level of the groupbeing assessed. Questions should be written at the appropriate developmental level, so they are
answered in a way that makes the data useful. Surveys can include any of the following types of
questions: closed-ended (yes/no), multiple choice (several responses to choose from), Likert
scale (strongly agree/agree/neutral/disagree/strongly disagree), or open-ended (why/how).
Topics that may be addressed in a survey include the following: Demographic information Status of employment Safety within community Personal safety (seatbelts, helmets, etc.) Stressors/stress management patterns Risky behaviors Support systems Volunteer/community activities Hobbies Activity and rest patterns Nutrition Dental hygiene Health promotion activities
Secondary Analysis of Already Existing Documents
After collected data have been analyzed, it may be helpful to go back and review the documentsthat were collected during the data-gathering phase or to find additional data that have alreadybeen collected by another source.
-
8/4/2019 Stanhope Community Assessment Outline
5/5
C.Data Interpretation
After the data have been collected, it is important to analyze the information to identify any
significant themes or trends. This can be done by organizing the information that has been
collected during data gathering and data generation.
Answering the following questions may assist in data interpretation:
What similarities are apparent between the data that were gathered and the data that weregenerated?
What differences are apparent between the data that were gathered and the data that weregenerated?
What are the strengths of this community? In what areas is improvement needed in this community?