2 - Community Assessment

• Three phases of the planning process: Preparatory Phase, Planning Phase, Output
• Two objects of the planning process: Planning for the programs and services, Planning for projects
• One single output: A consolidated health program plan
• COMMUNITY ASSESSMENT - A community assessment is an exercise by which a collaborative partnership gathers information on the current strengths, concerns, and conditions of children, families, and the community.
• The information comes from many sources especially parents and family members and is

  elicited by many techniques, including interviews, focus groups, and scanning demographic data collected by local agencies.
• Community assessments focus on local assets, resources, and activities as well as gaps, barriers, or emerging needs. The process of

  identifying and appraising this information will help your collaborative partnership.
• Clearly understand the context in which families live and the issues families want to address; locate hidden strengths or underutilized

  resources that could be developed.
• Determine which resources could contribute to comprehensive strategies, and in what way;
• Design effective, collaborative strategies that engage children and families because they respond to real and important conditions; and
• Empower families and community members by giving them a role in designing and implementing the strategies.
• The process of conducting a community assessment involves : scanning the community to locate existing information, developing a family focus, identifying community assets and the degree to which they are accessible to the people who can benefit from them, and analyzing the information obtained through the first three steps.
• Program - a series of coordinated related multiple projects that continue over extended time intended to achieve a goal
• Program - is comprised of multiple projects and is created to obtain broad organizational or technical objectives
• Project - Has an established and specific objective
• Project - Has a defined life span with a beginning and an end
• Project - Usually the involvement of several departments and professionals
• Project - Has specific time ,cost performance requirements
• OBJECTIVE . BENEFIT. TIME
• Major steps in planning, sustaining and

  evaluating a health promotion project

   

  1. Identify the issues or health problems in the

  community.

  2. Prioritize the issues or health problems to identify the

  one that the project will address.

  3. Identify risk factors and set the goal for the project

  4. Determine contributing factors and state objectives for

  the project

  5. Determine what strategies will be

  6. Develop the action plan for the project. DO IT!

  7. Sustain the project or keep the project (or some parts

  of it) going

  8. Evaluate the project
• Step 1: Identify the issues or health problems in the community
• NEEDS ASSESSMENT - Clarifying need is an essential part of deciding what issue or problem the project will address. The term ‘needs  assessment’ is used to describe a process of collecting  information that will give a good indication of the priority needs of a community.
• Needs assessment - It helps with allocating resources and making decisions about where to start with health promotion work.
• Needs assessment - It provides an opportunity for the community to become involved in the planning from the beginning.
• CLASSIFYING NEEDS - When undertaking a needs assessment, it is important to consider that needs will be thought of differently, depending on whom you consult.
• Needs are sometimes classified as: Normative needs, Felt needs, Expressed needs,  Comparative needs
• Sharing information from the needs Assessment - Sharing the results of the needs assessment with the community is a key part of the planning process.
• This process will:

  – Raise community awareness about the issues and possible underlying causes

  – Stimulate discussion about ways to address the issues

  – Allows the community to be involved in planning and decision-making about the project
• Consider baseline data - Some of the information gathered during the needs assessment may be able to be used as

  ‘baseline data’.
• • Baseline data describe the situation or condition at the time the project or intervention starts.
  • Data collected later during the evaluation is then compared against the baseline data to see the effect of the project.
• Step 2: Prioritize the issues or health problems 
• • At the end of Step 1, the project team will have a list of major issues and potential target groups for the project.
  • There are always competing needs or issues in any community.
  • Limitations such as time and resources mean that not everything can get addressed.
  • Issues will need to be prioritized. Needs and priorities vary from individual to individual, family to family, group to group.
  • It is important to work out criteria to sort out which issue the project will address.
• Qualitative Method – Analysis of those who participated in the circumstances that surround the problem through focus group discussion (Participant’s Analysis)
• Quantitative Method – Construct a problem tree illustrating the direct and the underlying causes of the problem
• Quantitative Methods – Provide estimates (evidence-based) on the nature and extent of each cause through the use of indicators.
• Root cause analysis - is a class of problem solving methods aimed at identifying the root causes of the problems or events instead of

  simply addressing the obvious symptoms.
• Techniques in Root Cause Analysis - Root cause analysis is among the core building blocks in the continuous improvement efforts of

  the organization.
• ASK WHY 5 TIMES - This might sound like the technique of a five-year old wanting to get out of going to bed, but the five whys analysis can be quite useful for getting to the underlying causes of a problem. By identifying the problem, and then asking "why" five times - getting progressively deeper into the problem, the root cause can be strategically identified and tackled.
• Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) - is a technique which is aimed to find various modes for failure within a system.
• FMEA requires several steps for execution:

  • All failure modes (the way in which an observed failure occurs) must be determined.
  • How many times does a cause of failure occur?
  • What actions are implemented to prevent this cause from occurring again?
  • Are the actions effective and efficient?

  FMEA is often performed and updated any time a new product or process is generated, when changes are made to current conditions, or to the design, when new regulations occur, or when there is a problem determined through customer feedback.
• 3. Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) - Uses boolean logic to determine the root causes of an undesirable event. This technique is usually used in risk analysis and safety analysis. At the top of the fault tree, the undesirable result is listed. From this event, all potential causes tree downfrom it. Each potential cause is listed on the diagram in the shape of an upside down tree.