Describe which assessment activities list in the overview section of this module that you incorporated or utilized this week to further develop your community assessment and why you selected those activities over others that you may not have utilized.
What did you finding interesting or discover about your community that you may not have known prior to the assessment activities?
Assesment activity
After the community has been defined, the next phase is assessment. The following items describe several resources and methods that can be used to gather and generate data.
These items serve as a starting point for data collection. This is not an all-inclusive list of resources and methods that may be used when a community assessment is conducted.
The time frame for completion of the assessment may influence which methods are used. Nonetheless, these items should be reviewed to determine what information will be useful to collect about the community that is being assessed.
It is not necessary to use all of these resources and methods; however, the use of a variety of methods is helpful when one is exploring the needs of a community.
Data Gathering (collecting information that already exists)
Demographics of the Community
When demographic data are collected, it is useful to collect data from a variety of levels so comparisons can be made.
If the population that is being assessed is located within a specific setting, it may be best to contact that agency to retrieve specific information about that population.
The following resources provide a broad overview of the demographics of a city, county, or state:
State and County Quick Facts Easy access to facts about population, housing, economics, geographic data, and business, based on U.S. Census data
Obtain information about a specific city or county on these useful websites www.epodunk.com and www.city-data.com
Information from Government Agencies
Healthy People 2030 This resource is published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It identifies health improvement goals and objectives for the country to be reached by the year 2030
National Center for Health Statistics this agency is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; this website provides statistical information about the health of Americans
National Vital Statistics System
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) The CDC website contains a large amount of information related to the health of the American population. The search engine within this website can be used to find relevant information
Federal agencies with statistical programs
Every state in the United States has its own specific health improvement plan and goals that are based on the Healthy people 2030 document. This information may be available on the state health department website.
State and local health departments provide information related to vital statistics for the community.
Other Data Sources
America’s Health Rankings this website provides information about various health indicators for each state: https://www.americashealthrankings.org/
Other relevant data sources may be found by conducting an Internet search related to the topic that is being examined through the community assessment.
After data are collected from various sources, it is important to review the information and to identify assets and areas for improvement in the community by comparing local data (if available) versus state and national data.
This will facilitate the organization of the information that has already been obtained and will provide direction for the next step of the process.