16. Community Assessment

Question 1

Why Do a Community Health Assessment?

Answer 1

• Preintervention planning
• Bringing public values, opinions, and traditions to the surface
• Developing community awareness, support, readiness and leadership capacity
• Stimulating community action and empowerment

Question 2

Five Stages of Team development

Answer 2

Forming
Storming
Norming
Preforming
Adjorning

Question 3

Forming

Answer 3

Team comes together. Get to know each other.
Usually a polite and agreeable
Determine leadership; define the purpose, goals, skills

Question 4

Storming

Answer 4

Difference of opinion may arise; subgroups may form
Tension and conflict emerge
Conflict to be navigated openly and healthfully

can enter into unhealthy conflict. Difference of opinions

Question 5

Norming

Answer 5

Emotions begin to lessen and processes begin to form
Practical rules of engagement
Group cohesion, effective working rel-ationships

emotions lessens, we start to look at people instead of the emotions. Establish grp norms.

Question 6

Performing

Answer 6

Decisions made by consensus
Clear processes are followed
Roles and responsibilities are clear and valued
Productive work towards shared goals

Question 7

Adjourning

Answer 7

Project nears end.
Reports and business finalized.
Often celebratory.
Team mourns the loss of work and processes formed
Adjourn/ termination

Question 8

Strategies and principles with Getting to Know the Community

Answer 8

Select a spokesperson or lead agency that already has a relationship with the community

Make contact with the formal community leaders

Be physically present, available, and visible in the community

Engage with people in nonthreatening ways; be open and honest in your actions

Communicate—keep the people involved in decisions and processes

Question 9

Primary Data

Answer 9

Original data:
Observation ie windshield survey, participant observation
Surveys and questionnaires,
Key informant interviews, focus groups, community forum
Photovoice results

Question 10

Secondary Data

Answer 10

Sociodemographic data
Vital statistics data
Health-related data
Archival materials
Census
Morbidity and mortality statistics
Population health surveys
Records of community
Services and schools
Clinic records
Screening records
Environmental information

Question 11

Photovoice results

Answer 11

taking picutes of things that are important in their life and then presenting the photos and why their important

Question 12

Windshielf surverys

Answer 12

walking/driving around the neighbourhood and taking not of the overnment building, state of the sidewalks, are there trees, vomit/garbage on the ground, etc.

Question 13

Numerical (quantitative) data

Answer 13

can be measured on a scale (e.g., weight, blood pressure), analyzed statistically, and displayed graphically

Question 14

Nonnumerical (qualitative) data

Answer 14

provide depth and detail to statistics and allow us to interpret the beliefs, values, opinions, and culture of the community or population aggregate (e.g., the meaning of overweight or hypertension to people experiencing it)

Question 15

Sociodemographic data

Answer 15

from local, regional, provincial/territorial, and national sources (e.g., census reports, registry reports).

for example, age, sex, education, migration background and ethnicity, religious affiliation, marital status, household, employment, and income.

Question 16

Vital statistics data

Answer 16

from provincial/territorial vital statistics departments that track births, deaths, marriages, etc.

Question 17

Health-related data

Answer 17

from a variety of sources such as Statistics Canada, PHAC Health Status Reports, CIHR information, local/regional public health department reports, specific disease foundations.

Question 18

Archival materials

Answer 18

specific reports previously commissioned from such sources as health regions, national and international health status reports, royal commissions (e.g., Mental Health Commission of Canada), and reports prepared by special interest groups (e.g., disease associations, population groups).

Question 19

Original data

Answer 19

reports of data collected specifically for the assessment (e.g., windshield surveys, key informant interviews, participant observation, photovoice results, questionnaires, surveys).

Question 20

Hypothesis-confirmation bias

Answer 20

focusing selectively on information that confirms interviewers’ preconceived hypotheses.

Question 21

Elite bias

Answer 21

tending to give more weight to the views of people in influential positions than to the opinions of others.

Question 22

Concreteness bias

Answer 22

giving the impressions from vivid descriptions and statistical data about a few cases that they represent general situations.

Question 23

Consistency bias

Answer 23

attempting to draw meaningful conclusions prematurely from conflicting information.

Question 24

Is the following statement True or False?

Focus groups are an ideal setting to identify new themes and data from a diverse group of community members.

Answer 24

False

Focus groups are not intended to be group interviews in which new data are collected. Instead, they are best used when data themes have emerged from other sources and the team wants to add to the understanding of each theme. Focus group participants are limited to 8 to 12 homogeneous people (i.e., they share certain characteristics).

Question 25

Community Core

Answer 25

The core of a community is its people—their history, characteristics, values, and beliefs
Community core depicted by inner circle

History, characteristics, values, and beliefs

Sociodemographic, economic, cultural, and social support information

Education and employment patterns, resource production and use

Population-level personal health behaviours

Social cohesion/isolation, attitudes toward diversity

Question 26

What is the first stage used to assess a community?
- Hold a town meeting
- Learn about its people
- Discuss community needs with local government
- Tour the community clinics
- Discuss community needs with local physicians

Answer 26

B. Learn about its people

The core of a community is its people—their history, characteristics, values, and beliefs. The first stage of assessing a community, then, is to learn about its people. In fact, partnering with people in the community is an integral part of working in the community.

Question 27

8 Subsystems assessment wheel

Answer 27

Physical Environment
Education
Safety and Transportation
Politics and Government
Health and Social Service
Communication
Business and Economics
Recreation and Leisure

Question 28

Physical Environment Subsystem

Answer 28

• Where and how is the community/population situated?
• How does the physical setting impact the population or community life?
• Weather, terrain
• Placement of services
• Built environment, population density and diversity
• Food sources, transportation, shelter

Question 29

Education Subsystem

Answer 29

• Closely linked with employment and economic status of a community and population aggregate
• Learning infrastructure—basic, specialized, literacy, and sources for learning (formal and informal)
• School enrollment, attendance, and completion rates by type of school
• Whether children go to school in their community or outside it

Question 30

Politics and Government Subsystem

Answer 30

• Need to understand which government is responsible for the portfolios that influence healthy public policy
• Must be aware of how special interest groups can influence policy
• Need to learn about how the population or community can access resources
• Identify the people and groups who are in positions of power and influence

Question 31

Safety and Transportation Subsystem

Answer 31

• Reduce anxiety and promote a sense of safety
• Components of safety that affect the community
• Security services—fire, police, emergency services
• Water quality, sanitation, and sewage treatment
• Air quality and pollution prevention
• Waste removal and recycling services
• Animal welfare and protection
• Dangerous goods transport through communities
• Components of transportation that affect the community:
• Transportation sources and routes
• Availability of bus, light rail transit, bicycle paths
• Air and rail service to places outside the community
• Cost of transportation, parking, insurance
• Collision rates, safety measures, enforcement

Question 32

Health and Social Service

Answer 32

• SOCIAL SAFETY NET with a focus on needs and utilization to determine adequacy, accessibility, acceptability
• Facilities and services available—ambulance, health units, hospitals, urgent care, primary care, long-term care, social services
  – Intracommunity and extracommunity location
  – Formal and volunteer programs and resources
• Utilization: characteristics of users, statistics of use, gaps and duplications in services

Question 33

Communication Subsystem

Answer 33

• Formal—from outside the community (extracommunity)
  – Newspapers, radio and TV, Internet
• Informal—from inside the community
  – Bulletin boards, posters in community locations
  – Flyers and newsletters from community groups
  – Word of mouth, social media, door-to-door, phone trees

Question 34

Business and Economics Subsystem

Answer 34

• “Wealth” of the community—goods and services available, resource allocation
• Household finances are impacted by employment, business, and productivity locally and nationally
  – Key indicators are number of households below the poverty level and unemployment rate, and the proportion of lone-parenting families
• This subsystem has a direct impact on the health of the population and the morale of the community

Question 35

Recreation and Leisure Subsystem

Answer 35

• Allows us to focus on assessing the degree of lifestyle support in the community
• Link recreation information with the data on physical environment and safety subsystems
• Green space, sports and physical activity venues
• Venues for social interaction
• Venues for spiritual worship and reflection

Question 36

A systems review for a community includes all but one of the following. Which is not included?
- Observing social systems
- Performing physical assessments of individual residents
- Observing housing
- Observing local businesses

Answer 36

B. Performing physical assessments of individual residents

In the community, the system review includes observing social systems, which include housing, businesses, faith institutions, and hangouts. Conducting physical assessments of individuals is not normally part of community assessment.