Chapter 6 Participatory Approaches

Question 1

What are needs and resource assessments? They support which other competency areas?

Answer 1

Needs and resources assessment: important component of most community-based processes
• support other competency areas including planning, capacity building, evaluation, and sustainability

Question 2

Why engage in this assessment process?

Answer 2

assists stakeholders in systematically examining the context, conditions,
and magnitude of an issue
• helps with identifying available resources for addressing the issue

Question 3

Define Community needs and resources assessment

Answer 3

comprehensive analysis that examines the historical and existing context, conditions, assets, and capacity of the community to respond to a community issue

Question 4

Define community need

Answer 4

discrepancy or gap between the existing situation (what is) and the optimum state (what it should be)

Question 5

Aim of assessment process

Answer 5

The assessment process aims to identify and validate whether a community issue is a concern that matters to individuals and groups in the community.

Question 6

Community resources (definition, examples of community resources)

Answer 6

existing assets at the individual, organizational, or community levels that can be mobilized to address an issue.
• Examples (to improve quality of life): human resources (e.g., neighborhood residents, youth, agency staff, and elected officials), facilities (e.g., schools, churches, and businesses), or amenities (e.g., parks, community gardens, and bicycle paths)

Question 7

What is the outcome of a community needs and resources assessment?

Answer 7

Can result in a variety of outcomes:
• increased knowledge and awareness about an issue
• collaboration and consensus for addressing the issue
• direct products (e.g., a report)

Question 8

What happens in the assessment process?

Answer 8

Information is systematically collected, reviewed, and analyzed to
examine issues in the community
• Takes into account the context of existing conditions and available
resources in the community

Question 9

Assessment report

Answer 9

provides a summary of the information collected

to support data-informed decision making

Question 10

What influences how community psychologists conduct needs and resources assessments?

Answer 10

Certain core values and principles of community psychology influence how community psychologists conduct needs and resources assessments

Question 11

How should assessments be developed, conducted, and used?

Answer 11

in a way that promotes the values of community psychology

• empowers the individuals and groups involved to address the issue

Question 12

Describe how assessment process should be (4 components)

Answer 12

participatory
• prevention-oriented
• support an ecological perspective
• be action-focused

Question 13

Participatory evaluation (description, impact etc. – what does it shape)

Answer 13

collaborative process of systematically investigating, and actively engaging stakeholders in all phases of the assessment (use that info to support action)
• assessment process should be inclusive and engages
individuals/groups most affected by the issue
• diverse stakeholders in assessment process - reduces individual biases and assumptions, and provides different perspectives, knowledge, and expertise
Participatory approaches for assessing community needs and resources enhances community capacity to respond to issues by allowing community members and groups to shape both how the problem is defined and examined

Question 14

Prevention-oriented (description, purpose, example)

Answer 14

Using a prevention-oriented approach, we look at risk factors and protective factors associated with the behaviors of interest in the community (part of the assessment)
• Prevention-oriented assessment - examine the present rate or incidences of problem behaviors, and future probability of needs and resources related to this community issue
• Example: examine existing rates of adolescent substance use and also
consider the future probability of drug use by youth in the community

Question 15

Multiple levels of prevention orientation

Answer 15

Prevention-oriented assessment allows for an understanding of community needs and resources across multiple levels of prevention
• at primary level (i.e., protection from experiencing a problem)
• at secondary level (i.e., detection of elevated risk for problem)
• at tertiary (i.e., treatment and rehabilitation to minimize effects and
reduce problem)

Question 16

Ecological perspective (description, what doe sit account for, link to risk and
protective factors etc.)

Answer 16

Use a holistic approach (behaviors and conditions are examined across multiple ecological levels as part of the assessment)
• Accounts for: interaction between individuals and social systems they are embedded in
• Risk and protective factors related to a community issue are examined across multiple socio-ecological domains including at the individual (e.g., history, experience), relational (e.g., family, peers),
community (e.g., neighborhood, associations), and societal (e.g., culture, norms) levels.

Question 17

Action-focused assessment (description, goal of assessment, link to mobilization
etc.)

Answer 17

Community needs and resources assessment should provide information to identify and validate community issues to be addressed
• Goal of the assessment - support a collaborative process that allows
for informed decision making in planning and taking action on issues that matter to the community
• Need to engage community stakeholders, including those most affected by the problem, is important for ensuring the assessment will lead to mobilization and action in the community

Question 18

8 key tasks, activities, and skills that guide the process of conducting needs and resources assessments

Answer 18

Task 1: Identify the Purpose of the Assessment
• Task 2: Determine the Appropriate Components of the Assessment
• Task 3: Identify Appropriate Methods for Conducting Assessments
• Task 4: Enhance Community Capacity to Assess
• Task 5: Develop and Implement a Plan for Conducting the Assessment
• Task 6: Analyze the Results of the Assessment
• Task 7: Communicate the Results of the Assessment
• Task 8: Use the Needs and Resources Assessment Results for Improvement

Question 19

Task 1: Identify the purpose of the assessment (description of each, key questions, associated factors etc. )

Answer 19

Importance of: shared understanding of function & uses of assessment
Key questions: Why is the assessment being conducted?
• What will be better understood about the community issue and by whom?
• How will stakeholders know if the assessment process and outcomes are achieved?
• “What should be known after conducting the assessment that is presently unknown?”
Factors:
1) Examine context and conditions influencing assessment process:
• validating whether a new or present issue is a community problem
• examining the need for new or existing community services and programs
• studying and getting consensus on changing needs and resources in the community
• Engage community stakeholders (individuals or groups who care about and have an interest in the issue) from the onset in identifying the purpose and potential uses of the assessment (get community support)
• include people who are most affected or have experienced the issue in this assessment process
2) Identify the level and scope of assessment:
• Community - individuals or groups who share a common place, interest, and/or experience
• How we define a community affects how see and address an issue!
• Consider the geographic scope (e.g., neighborhood, county)
• Is the assessment intended to better understand the needs and resources based on the experiences (e.g., race/ethnicity, education ability/disability) and interests (e.g., substance abuse, safety) of individuals and groups in the community?
3) Identify the Assessment Time Period:
• 2 aspects to clarify prior to beginning the assessment process
• projected duration of the assessment process (helps in selecting appropriate and feasible assessment methodologies)
• retrospective period for which information will be collected (time range, e.g., - community issue over past 5 years or over a 10-year period) – influences the analysis and assessment results• Listening to community members
• Facilitating dialogue
• Identifying and communicating with stakeholders
• Consensus building
• Collection and review pf archival records

Question 20

Task 2 Determine the Appropriate

Components of the Assessment (description of each, key questions, associated factors etc. )

Answer 20

1) Identify Questions to Be Answered by the Assessment
• Identifying questions to be examined – helps determine appropriate components to be included in the assessment
• How do I selecting questions to be answered in the assessment?
• Basic prompts - who, what, when, where, why, & how
• Community description - if we want to know who and what types of people live in the community
• Problem analysis - if we want to know who is engaged in certain types of behaviors and the prevalence of these problem behaviors in the community

2) Identify Appropriate Components of the Assessment
• Core components often included in an assessment:
• community description or profile (what are the defining
characteristics of this community?)
• problem analysis (what is the community problem or issue?) • resource assessment (what resources are available?
• The appropriateness of various assessment components is guided by the type of questions to be answered based on the purpose of the assessment.

Developing a community description:
• describing the people in the community
• provides an analysis of the environmental context and people
• includes information on: the demography, economy, geography, history, politics, governance, and leadership
• the changes experienced in the environment or by people in the community over time - provides a historical context
• Ensure that the community description reflects the perspectives of individuals in the community based on how they view and describe the community!

Conducting a resource assessment:
• gives systematic analysis of capacities (i.e., collective skills, capabilities, resources) in community that can be used to address issue
• Community resources - both recognized and underutilized assets in the community that can be used in response to a problem (individuals,
groups, physical structures, social networks, and institutions)
• A resource assessment includes, but is not limited to an assessment of available services in the community.

Conducting a problem analysis:
• Problem analysis - collection of information about a community issue (level, severity, magnitude, & social concern in community)
• Dissects community issue - gap between the present and ideal state for behaviors and conditions for people in the community
• 1st step - gather information that indicates the level and social importance of the issue (Table 6.2); frequency, duration, scope, severity, impact, perceptions, and social concern related to the issue
• frequency of the behavior (underage drinking- how often?)

• Duration or length of occurence
• how long behaviors of interest have occurred (historical context)
• Is the issue a new or is persistent problem?
• Helps to understand if the behaviors are cyclical or occur during certain periods of time (e.g., adolescence) or over the life course
• Scope and prevalence
• how many individuals are involved (or not involved) in behaviors
• multiple levels of prevention (i.e., primary, secondary, tertiary) - examine number of individuals presently engaged in problem behaviors, and those who may be at risk
• Severity or magnitude
• how severely individuals and groups are impacted by the problem
• How does the problem disturbs or disrupts the quality of life forthose in the community?

Impact
• Must examine consequences of addressing the issue in the community
• What are the intended and unintended consequences?
• Understand interaction of issue with other community problems.
• What are the risk and protective factors associated with this issue? Which are modifiable factors? (lead to improvements)
Social concern
• examine the social significance or importance of the issue to
determine if it is perceived by the community to be a problem
• assessment process - increases awareness and gives validation for the issue as a community concern
• How do individuals and groups perceive and define the issue?
• The way an issue is defined influences whether it is deemed to be a problem, the types of individuals and groups who care about the issue, as well as what may be appropriate intervention responses.

skills
Developing assessment questions
• Information gathering
• Categorizing and organizing information
• Consensus building

Question 21

Task 3: Identify Appropriate Methods for

Conducting Assessments description & key questions

Answer 21

Ensure a Participatory Approach for Assessing Community Needs and Resources
• Participatory orientation - increase accessibility and social validity (engage stakeholders who have knowledge of culturally appropriate approaches and access to different populations)

• Before selecting methods for community needs & resources assessment - determine stakeholders (including organizational and community representatives), who should be prioritized

Other considerations:
• Human and financial resources (affects feasibility of conducting assessment approaches)
• budget available to support the assessment (informs the appropriateness of various types of methods)
• individual interviews and surveys (conducting and analyzing them)
- time and resource intensive
• focus groups and listening sessions - engage more people (more
cost-efficient)
• secondary data sources - available at no cost or for small fees

Question 22

(Task 3) Picture that you are working with a community with a history of
exploitation or unethical treatment Would there be some assessment methods that they would be less willing to complete?

Answer 22

• Engage stakeholders in the assessment process. But why?
1) can help determine those methods that may be more comfortable, less risky, or generally more acceptable to certain populations
2) can help eliminate unnecessary barriers (including community
members from the populations most affected by the issue in the selection of methods)

Question 23

Task 3: Identify Appropriate Methods for

Conducting Assessments. Select Appropriate Assessment Methods

Answer 23

Which assessment method is most appropriate or best suited for that
community with those needs at that time?
• Mixed methods - combined use of quantitative & qualitative methods
• Advantage: enhances the completeness of the data and permits a
deeper understanding of the issue

Question 24

Task 3: Identify Appropriate Methods for
Conducting Assessments
• Qualitative methods

Answer 24

typically use narrative descriptions or thematic analyses
(characterize the perceptions, attitudes, or beliefs of an individual
or group)
• helps in examining the context and conditions related to an issue
• helps in answering questions on the impact and social concern or
validity for a community issue
• Traditional forms interviews, focus groups, and listening sessions
• Nontraditional approaches - observational methods

Question 25

Task 3: Identify appropriate methods for conducting assessment.
Interviews

Answer 25

• provide insight into person’s experiences and perceptions about an
issue by prompting the respondent to answer open-ended questions
Method components:
• Requires facilitator/administrator
• Requires some type of recording or note-taking
• May be administered as group
• Collects information from/about individual
• Uses open-ended question format
• Data in form of words, pictures, or objects

Question 26

Task 3: Identify appropriate methods for conducting assessment. Focus group.

Answer 26

2) Focus groups
• Similar to interviews - assesses perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes
regarding issues, but assembles a small group to discuss a specific
topic and are moderated by facilitator (helps guide conversation)
• one format - the root cause (“but why”) analysis
• Collects information about conditions and factors underlying
why a community problem exits by asking a series of “but why” questions to identify the root causes of an issue (list of contributing factors/root causes)
• Facilitator can then ask questions to explore “if so, then what” can be done about each factor or cause

Method components:
• Requires facilitator/administrator
• Requires some type of recording or note-taking
• May be administered as group
• Uses open-ended question format
• Data in form of words, pictures, or objects

Question 27

Tast 3: Identify appropriate methods for conducting assessment. Listening session (public forums)

Answer 27

gather information about perceptions of community needs and resources from a large number of people
• often useful before implementing other methods because discussion resulting from broad questions asked in a public forum can be more
deeply explored through other methods.
Method components:
• Requires facilitator/administrator
• Requires some type of recording or note-taking
• May be administered as group
• Uses open-ended question format
• Data in form of words, pictures, or objects

Question 28

Task 3: Identify Appropriate Methods for Conducting Assessments
Photovoice, direct observation, and geospatial mapping

Answer 28

all qualitative methods
• all employ a visual-based or observational approaches

Photovoice
Researchers or practitioners implementing a photovoice project
engage community members in photographing the conditions that
surround a topic of interest.
• After the completion of photo-taking, the facilitator guides participants
through a process of selecting and making sense of photos that best
depict the phenomena of interest.

Direct observation
• another useful method for assessing community needs and resources
• Observational approaches range from informal data collection
methods such as windshield tours, which provide brief observations ofcommunity challenges and strengths identified while riding through a
community, to more formal (and quantitative) applications in which
the occurrence of behaviors (e.g., number of people smoking) or
products of behavior (e.g., cigarette butts on the ground) are recorded

Geospatial mapping
• represent assets or needs of a community - depict them on a map to
visually show geographic locations & distribution within community
Method components:
• Data in form of words, pictures, or objects

Question 29

Task 3: Identify Appropriate Methods for
Conducting Assessments
• Quantitative methods

Answer 29

provide numerical and statistical data that assist in examining the
frequency, prevalence, duration, and magnitude of specific behaviors
(e.g., the proportion of adults in a community who are current
smokers), which are often referred to as population-level outcomes.
• common types - surveys and secondary data analyses
surveys - structured data collection approach that asks specific
questions about behaviors (e.g., have you used alcohol in the past 30
days), experiences (e.g., have you been at a party where alcohol was
provided to minors by an adult), and/or perspectives (e.g., do you think
it is wrong for other youth your age to drink alcohol) related to issue
• several types of surveys
• cross-sectional (census) surveys
• stakeholder surveys
• concerns survey

Concern surveys:
aim - quantify community members’ perceptions by having respondents rate 25 to 40 community issues for both importance
and satisfaction with how well they are addressed in the community
• Items rated as high importance and high satisfaction with
implementation – strengths for the community
• Items rated with high importance and low satisfaction - relative
problems or needs for the community

Stakeholders survey: used to obtain feedback from individuals in the organization or
community (can include community residents, service providers,
field experts, and/or community partners)

Question 30

Task 4: Enhance Community Capacity to

Assess (description & key questions & factors)

Answer 30

Community capacity - collective skills, capabilities, and resources of a group to promote positive change and improvement in the community over time and across place
• community assessment process can enhance community capacity to both identify and address community issues

Examine Assessment Capacity of Partners
• Examine the capacity of the groups that have come together in common purpose to ensure sufficient support for assessment process
• Completeness check by partnering organizations
• identify additional stakeholders to include in the process (including those individuals and groups most affected by the issue)
• Identify complementary skills, experiences, and expertise of individuals and groups partnering to support assessment process
• discuss and allocate clearly defined roles, responsibilities, and
expectations (e.g., skills in survey administration - compensation,
time commitment, and resources needed)

Enhance Community Capacity
• capacity of the partnering organizations and individuals (including those most affected by the problem) - should be enhanced through the assessment process
• Common method to increase the capacity of community members and groups - through training or technical assistance (e.g., training in needs
assessment - gain skills and knowledge in the development and implementation of assessment methods)
• Completed assessment provides information that enhances the ability of the community to address the issue

Question 31

Task 5: Develop and Implement a Plan for

Conducting the Assessment ( description, key questions and factors?)

Answer 31

Determine and State the Objectives of the Assessment
• How will you conduct your needs and resource assessment?
• Necessity of having a detailed plan
• Helps guide the assessment process
• Ensures a shared understanding between stakeholders on the purpose and goals

What should I include in this plan?
• clear objectives (timeframe for major goals of the assessment)
• write down your objectives
• make objective statements SMART+C (Specific, Measurable, Attainable or Achievable, Realistic, Timed, and Challenging) Example of an objective statement to support the assessment:
• By March (within two months), information from five identified assessment methodologies will be collected and analyzed.

Identify Assessment Strategies and Develop Action Steps
1) Identify the strategies or data-gathering methods (e.g., focus group,
archival records) selected to support each component (e.g., problem analysis, community description) of the assessment
2) For each strategy or assessment method, develop action steps
(indicating the individuals or groups responsible for implementing specific assessment activities within a certain timeframe)
• Identify who will be responsible for conducting the assessment methods. (specify resources and collaborators needed to support each activity – be realistic on the levels of support that are needed and available)

Implement and Review the Assessment Action Plan
• Development and implementation of action plan - facilitates consensus building process (supports conducting the assessment)
• Involve key stakeholders in the development, implementation, and regular review of progress in supporting the assessment action plan.
• Assessment methods are conducted and the components of the assessment (e.g., problem analysis, community description) are developed, summarized, and presented.
• Adjustment the plan if necessary

Question 32

Task 6: Analyze the Results of the Assessment (description, factors and key questions)

Answer 32

Main purpose of analyses – examine and use data to enhance community knowledge and understanding of the issue, and help inform decisions
• Key questions in the assessment - continuously reviewed to minimize the likelihood of analytic drift (i.e., the analyses do not answer the questions identified to be examined through the assessment)
• Modify or update the questions as part of the assessment process
• Key activities to assist in preparing the group to analyze assessment data include: identifying analytic tools, using appropriate analytic methods, and ensuring accurate citation of referenced data

Identify Appropriate Analytic Tools
• Identify appropriate data analytic tools to assist with organizing, analyzing, and presenting the data.
• Statistical packages (quantitative) - Excel, SPSS, SAS, Statistica etc.
• Computer assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS) -
ATLAS.ti, NVivo, Qualrus etc. (text, audio, and visual presentations)
• Data analytic packages - organizing, computing, and presenting data
• Need ability to make sense and meaning of the data, and recognize limitations in the data collection procedures, results and analyses

Use Appropriate Analytic Methods
• Analyze data carefully
• Identify both strengths (e.g., large sample from an often excluded segment of population - individuals who dropped out of high school) and limitations (the quantity of participants across race/ethnicity was too small to draw any conclusions for a subset of the participants)
• Consider and acknowledge the limitations regarding the inferences that can be made with the data collected
• to generalize data to a broader population – representative sample

Ensure Accurate Data Citation and Crediting
• Use appropriate data citation
• Credit your sources clearly in the reported findings and acknowledge secondary data sources
• Clearly indicate the data collection methods that were used
• Example: The use of geospatial mapping of outcomes may result in knowing that a particular neighborhood experiences disproportionate
rates of violence, but may not provide much explanatory information, thus requiring additional data collection to better understand the implications of the findings.

Question 33

Task 7: Communicate the Results of the

Assessment (Describe, key questions, factors)

Answer 33

Engage Stakeholders in Determining the Report Format
• Need to communicate results of assessment back to key stakeholders
• Present content (e.g., community description, problem analysis) in simple, concise, and visually appealing format
• Keep your audience for the assessment report in mind (community residents - those affected by problem and organizational stakeholders)
• Summarize findings using appropriate language and format
• Use visuals to display data (e.g., graphs, tables, figures)
• Use quick summary tools (e.g., poster formats or infographics - briefly summarizes information using visuals and concise statements).

Infographics - series of integrated graphics and visual displays of information to succinctly communicate a story that presents
complex information
• Example: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation used an infographic saying “Better Education = Healthier Lives” (relationship between education and health of individuals and communities, provided visual
images that showed how college graduates live longer and have less risk for chronic illness)

Disseminate the Report Using Multiple Channels
• Important step for increasing awareness about a community issue
• Encourage stakeholders to mobilize/advocate for new or expanded efforts
• Identify key stakeholders to engage in dissemination (include those that participated in the assessment process)
• Reports - common way to communicate results (not the only way)
• Other formats - community report cards, fact sheets, media releases
• Use multiple formats and channels to communicate results of the assessment

Publicly Present the Assessment for Community Dialogue
• Engage in dialogue with the community about the problem
• Community psychologists with their partners - support public forums and media releases (ensure information is appropriately presented to and interpreted by broader audiences)
• How you present an issue and deliver that information to the community matters!
• contributes to how the issue is named and framed as a problem in the community
• informs selection of appropriate strategies to address the issue

Question 34

Task 8: Use the Needs and Resources

Assessment Results for Improvement (explain, key questions, factors)

Answer 34

Define community issue within context of needs and available resources
• Findings in the needs and resources assessment
• set stage for community action and collaborative problem solving
• support meaningful change and improvements in community outcomes
• can move stakeholders from problem and resource identification to planning and mobilizing resources to support community action

Frame the Community Issues or Goals Using the Assessment
• Assessment results - inform or validate the naming and framing of the community issues or potential goals
• Problem framing - process of creating a description of a problem or goal in a manner that motivates future action
Why is it important to have an appropriate framing of a problem?
• can attract participation from diverse community members and stakeholders interested in addressing the problem
• avoid assigning blame

Consider these two framings:
• Schools are not doing enough to ensure that students complete high school.
• infers that schools alone are responsible for ensuring that students complete high school
• There are too few community supports to ensure that students complete high school, with the result that students are dropping out of school.
• supports the open involvement of a wider scope of partners in collaborating to address the issue

Framing of the issue - inform what can be done to address the problem
• From ecological perspective - framing the issue more broadly makes it more likely that strategies will be identified that address the issue, at not only the individual level (e.g., knowledge and skills of students),
but also to promote change within the environment (e.g., family support, school policy) and broader context (e.g., disproportionate allocation of resources across schools)

Use the Assessment to Guide Planning and Evaluation Activities
• After community assessment - examine appropriate intervention responses and develop a course of action.
• Share the report with diverse community audiences and stakeholders
• Community needs and resources assessment - tool used to support planning, implementation, and evaluation activities.
• During planning - data from assessment may serve as baseline indicators (helps to develop objectives)
• Data presented in the assessment may also support evaluation by providing indicators of intervention effectiveness

Regularly Review and Update the Assessment
• Update assessment regularly - celebrate accomplishments, and make necessary adjustments to increase the likelihood of effectiveness
• Keep stakeholders informed of the progress toward improvements in outcomes, and any challenges experienced in responding to the community issue (transparency)
• Decide how you will keep the community informed & get feedback
• Needs and resources in community – change over time (e.g., demographic shifts, changes in funding etc.)
• Decide with stakeholders on an interval to update the assessment
components and methods for doing so