Assessing Community Needs

C. THE 10 STEPS OF COMMUNITY NEEDS ASSESSMENT

The following 10 steps are an efficient way to organize and conduct a community needs assessment:

• Organize a community coalition (school health council or Healthy Schools Team).
• Identify the community.
• Establish broad support for the needs assessment.
• Involve key groups in the needs assessment.
• Identify data.
• Outline the process.
• Complete a "resources and services" inventory.
• Analyze and evaluate the data.
• Develop an action plan.
• Inform the community.

1. Organize a Community Coalition

The results of the needs assessment will benefit the whole community, and representatives of all interested parties should be included in the coalition that conducts the assessment. Each brings unique expertise and resources to the effort. Representatives may be included from:

• Social service agencies.
• The education system, such as administrators, guidance counselors, or school nurses.
• Medical care organizations and agencies, including private care professionals, representatives of community health centers, and hospital administrators.
• Mental health care professionals and representatives of community mental health centers.
• Dental health care professionals.
• Consumers, including both parents and students.
• Representatives of public health agencies.
• Other community members who may be willing to contribute to the efforts, such as representatives of religious or business communities.

2. Identify the Community

One of the first responsibilities of the community coalition is to define the "community," or the specific area that will be included in the assessment. Often, this must be determined by the available data. In some states, the majority of data are reported by state, county, or supervisory union. The community coalition, however, may have preconceived notions of its boundaries-for example, coalition members may think that a set of towns that fall in different counties constitute its community. Once the community is identified, coalition members can determined how best to collect and compile the necessary data.

Another aspect of identifying the community includes deciding who within the community will be included in the assessment. For example, will the assessment focus on children and youth, or will it also include their families? Will the assessment involve adults who do not have children?

3. Establish Broad Support for the Needs Assessment

Broad support is necessary not only for conducting the needs assessment, but also for implementing recommendations for change that might result. Depending on the climate of the community and the reasons for the assessment, establishing support may require identifying relevant groups and key stakeholders and holding conversations and meetings to inform them of the process and gather their support.

4. Involve Key Groups in the Needs Assessment

Involving key groups, such as school administrators and local health care professionals, in the needs assessment process is important for 2 reasons:

• The success of the community assessment often depends on the support of the school administrators and local health care professionals. Both are in powerful positions in terms of yielding data and implementing action steps that might result from the assessment.
• The resulting action steps commonly recommend the development of school-linked health services or, in some cases, school-based health centers. Establishing these services requires the support of both school administrators and local health care professionals, who also influence its future success.

5. Identify Data

The real work of a community needs assessment begins when the coalition begins to identify and collect the data it will need to make decisions on how to improve services.

• Identifying existing data

Already established empirical data can be used to highlight indicators that reflect community conditions and compose the core of the community profile. Federal agencies such as the Department of Education, the US Department of Health and Human Services, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have numerous published available data sources that should be explored.

• Planning for new community-specific data collection

After identifying available data, the coalition should develop a plan for the process of additional data collection. Examining access to and utilization of health care, dental care, and mental health care should be part of a comprehensive assessment. Samples of piloted surveys that evaluate access and utilization of health, dental, and mental health care services are available from the state department of health or agency of human services.

• Identifying other methods of data collection

Focus groups, community forums, and interviews can add significant material to the collected empirical data. Data from these sources provide additional qualitative ideas and input from key community members and, therefore, can be used to obtain a fuller understanding of access to and utilization of health, dental, and mental health care services. The coalition should make preliminary plans for the methods its members would like to pursue.

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6. Outline the Process

A number of aspects to the process of data collection and analysis need to be considered.

• Budget: Funds may be necessary to support an assessment coordinator as well as to pay for copying and printing, postage, supplies, meetings, meeting facilitators, and data analysis. The coalition should determine which of these itemswill require funding and identify sources within the community to support them.
• Timeline: A reasonable timeline for data collection, entry, and analysis should be developed. Community forums and other methods of promoting the process and its results should also be included on this timeline.
• Who and what population: The coalition should choose who will participate in surveys and focus groups, and it should identify any obstacles to working with the targeted populations.
• Coalition roles: Member of the coalition should discuss their specific roles in the process and the support each person or group will provide. If the community decides to hire an assessment coordinator, the coalition should be prepared to provide ongoing support and assistance to the coordinator.

7. Complete a "Resources and Services" Inventory

The identification of community resources and services, as well as how and where the services are provided, adds important information to the assessment. The services and resources inventory can usually be completed by members of the community coalition. A sample of a resources and services inventory guide is available from the Department of Health and Human Services.

8. Analyze and Evaluate the Data

It is often helpful for an outside evaluator to analyze the data for assessment surveys. Survey data, other compiled data, and information from the other data collection strategies should be reviewed by the community coalition to permit informed decisions about establishing additional services, such as a school-based or school-linked health center.

9. Develop an Action Plan

An action plan reflecting community goals should be designed that focuses on improving outcomes for children and families and might include plans for a school-based or school-linked health center. The plan should also identify sources of revenue and show how to apply for grant monies.

10. Inform the Community

This step should begin before the community coalition is established and continue through the development and promotion of the action plan. The community needs to know how its input to the process has resulted in a plan that supportsits views and perspectives. The coalition should develop a public relations campaign, convene town meetings, promote the needs assessment through community group newsletters, and undertake other promotional efforts as necessary to spread information.

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