HA599 Unit 9 Assignment
Running head: COMMUNITY HEALTH ASSESSMENT 1
COMMUNITY HEALTH ASSESSMENT 4
Health Needs Assessment
Mitchelle Baker
Have you ever wondered why it is important to create community health assessments? Do you know the research methods applied during the process of conducting a health assessment in the community? Many people have experienced confusion when it comes to questions regarding community health assessments because they either lack information about their importance or some individuals are ignorant about the matter. Don’t worry! In this article, you will get information about the importance of designing and implementing community health assessments as well as the research methods used in the process.
A community health assessment is defined by the Public Health Accreditation board as the examination and evaluation of indicators of health status in a specific population. Notably, this systematic evaluation helps in identifying all the available resources and other problems experienced in the community (CDC, 2019). The main objective of conducting a community health assessment is to develop strategies used in addressing all the health needs and other problems identified in a particular community. It is worth noting that a variety of processes and tools are utilized during the process of conducting a community health assessment (Oakes et al., 2015). However, the crucial ingredients for a successful CHS include collaborative participation and community engagement
Community health assessments are important because of several reasons. One of the reasons is that they enhance community and organizational collaboration and coordination. Community health assessments also help spread knowledge about the interconnectedness of activities and processes in a certain community and also present accurate information about its public health. Further, they ensure strengthened partnerships within the local and state public health systems. Moreover, community health assessments have been used as the baselines on performance utilized in preparation for accreditation (CDC, 2019). Some of the research methods used in collecting data for community health assessment may include such things as focus groups, surveys, interviews, abstractions and also the use of observations (O'Sullivan, Berner, Taliaferro, & Rassel, 2016).
References
CDC. (2019). CDC - Assessment and Plans - Community Health Assessment - STLT Gateway. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/publichealthgateway/cha/plan.html
Oakes, J. M., Andrade, K. E., Biyoow, I. M., & Cowan, L. T. (2015). Twenty years of neighborhood effect research: an assessment. Current epidemiology reports, 2(1), 80-87.
O'Sullivan, E., Berner, M., Taliaferro, J. D., & Rassel, G. R. (2016). Research methods for public administrators. Routledge.