7.4

• Community Diagnosis


  Identification and quantification of health problems in a community as a whole in terms of mortality and morbidity rates and ratio, and the identification of their correlates to define those at risk or those in need of health care
• Community Diagnosis


  • Collection of data about the community to identify the different factors that may directly or indirectly influence the health of the population
  • Analyze and seek explanations for the occurrence of health needs and problems in the community
• Community assessment


  Keystone of the community health process
• Public health worker


  • Utilizes assessment data to derive the community health diagnoses
  • Basis for developing and implementing community health interventions and strategies
• Ecologic Approach to Community Diagnosis

  • Recognizes the fact that the health status of the community is a product of various interacting elements such as population, physical and topographical characteristics, socio-economic and cultural factors, health and basic social services, power structure within the community
  • These elements will explain the health and illness patterns in the community
• 3 Conditions (Freeman & Heinrich, 1981)


  • Health status of the community, including the population's level of vulnerability
  • Community health capability or the ability of the community to deal with its health problems
  • Community action potential, or the patterns in which the community is likely to work on its health problems
• Comprehensive Community Diagnosis


  Aims to obtain general information about the community with the intent of determining prevalent health conditions and risk factors, socioeconomic condition, lifestyle behaviors and attitudes that affect health
• Elements of a Comprehensive Community Diagnosis


  • Demographic Variables
  • Socio-economic & Cultural Variables
  • Health and Illness Patterns
  • Health Resources
  • Political and Leadership Patterns
• Problem-Oriented Community Diagnosis

  Responds to a particular need for a target group
• Community Diagnosis: The Process


  • The community is an active partner, not a passive recipient of care
  • The public health worker works WITH and not FOR the community
  • A PHW does not operate like an external assessor of community needs but as the facilitator working in a team composed of community members and leaders
• Steps in Conducting Community Diagnosis


  1. Determining the Objectives

  2. Defining the Study Population

  3. Determining the Data to be Collected

  4. Collecting the Data

  5. Developing the Instruments

  6. Actual Data Gathering

  7. Data Collation

  8. Data Presentation

  9. Data Analysis

  10. Identifying the Community Health Problems
• Determining the Objectives


  During the planning phase, the objectives will serve as a guide in directing disease control and wellness promotion in the community
• Questions to answer in stating the objectives


  • What is the present health condition of the people in the community?
  • Why are the people in the community in such a condition? What specific problems are causing these problems?
  • What are the roots of these problems?
  • What solution will address the problems?
• Data Collection Methods


  • Observation
  • Records Review
  • Interviews
  • Focus Group Discussion
• Instruments for Data Collection


  • Survey Questionnaires/Survey Instruments
  • Focus Group Discussion Guide
  • Key Informant Interview Guide
  • Observation Checklist
• Types of Data Presentation


  • Line Graph
  • Bar graph/Pictograph
  • Histogram/Frequency Polygon
  • Scattered Diagram
  • Pie Chart
• Data Analysis


  • Quantification
  • Description
  • Classification of data
  • Problem tree analysis approach used to identify causes and effects
• Categories of Community Health Problems


  • Health Status Problems
  • Health Resources Problems
  • Health-Related Problems
• Priority-Setting


  • Prioritize which problems can be attended to considering available resources, limitations, constraints
  • Criteria for prioritization include nature of the condition/problem presented, magnitude of the problem, modifiability of the problem, preventive potential, social concern