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Assessing Community Needs
A. WHAT ARE WE ASSESSING WITH COMMUNITY ASSESSMENT?
A community needs assessment examines multiple factors.
1. Access to Care
To what extent do all the children, adolescents, and families have access to and use the following services and programs?
- Medical home care
- Dental home care
- Mental health services
- Substance abuse services
- Services and programs available for children with special health care needs
2. Coordination of Care
A key to successful health care services and programs is communication among all the key players. A needs assessment should examine the extent to which services offered by the following groups are coordinated with each other and the family and determine whether everyone is "in the loop."
- The school, health staff such as the school nurse or health aides in particular, but also teachers and school administrators when appropriate.
- Public health agencies and offices.
- Youth service organizations such as Boys and Girls clubs, runaway and homeless shelters.
- Pediatricians and other primary care professionals, whether in their offices, community clinics, or the school setting.
- School-based health center staff.
3. Outcomes and Indicators:
The available indicators for 4- to 10-year-old children include
- Mortality
- Immunizations at kindergarten
- School readiness
- Grade retention
- Attendance
- Physical and sexual abuse
- Exposure to violence
- Mental health
- Poverty
The available indicators for 10- to 18-year-old children include
- Mortality (violent deaths)
- Hospitalizations
- Pregnancy
- Sexually transmitted diseases
- Graduation on time
- Dropouts
- Youth employment
- Unmanageable adolescents and the number of out-of-home placements
- Delinquency
- Smoking, both tobacco and marijuana
- Alcohol consumption
- Victimization
- Suicide attempts
- Use of helmets and seat belts
- Sexual activity
- Condom use
- Mental health problems
- Weapons violations
- Absenteeism
- Alternative school placements
- Adjudicated youth
- Homeless youth
- Poverty
4. Positive Youth Development
The majority of a needs assessment focuses on the negative aspects of community services and programs and the unfortunate state of the most needy children and adolescents. The strengths of the community should also be examined.
- What are some of the strengths the community offers youth?
- What are some of the strongest assets of the community's youth? Are they drug-free? Do they have access to medical care?
- How resilient are the community's youth?
