This volume is for students and practitioners interested in improving their understanding and skills in the area of needs assessment. The text follows the typical sequence of an actual needs assessment process. Case studies are used to illustrate conceptualization of the task through the application of needs-based data to effective public health solutions. Examples are drawn from myriad public health efforts, recognizing that not all public health sector agencies bear direct responsibility for all activities that could be considered part of public health.
In planning community and social services, perceptions of need come from many sources - from the local news to political interest groups - but the first step in conducting efficient and effective community interventions is to look beyond perceptions and identify the actual needs based on available evidence. Creating a comprehensive needs assessment is essential for securing funding and designing programs in governmental agencies and nonprofit organizations. This workbook helps community groups, social service organizations, and government agencies collect, analyze, prioritize, and present local data in a way that will ensure that a community's needs are understood and met. Employing a learn-by-doing approach, the book walks readers through the actual steps of creating a comprehensive needs assessment. The workbook offers thorough background information and provides step-by-step activities to address the entire process beginning with the planning stage, followed by data collection and analysis, and concluding with preparing your report and implementing findings.Whether in a classroom setting or in the workplace, this is the book that practitioners will use throughout their entire careers. Features: text is formatted as a workbook designed around tasks, worksheets, and tools to guide the reader through the process of creating an actual needs assessment the website www.rodneywambeam.com accompanies the book and has downloadable copies of all the worksheets included so that readers can print and use them for future projects demonstrations provide real-world examples of communities and organizations at every step of the process covers important topics frequently left out of needs assessment texts including survey research, and using completed assessment reports for making decisions, and writing grant proposals
This handbook serves as a reference guide for everyday clinical decision-making and provides the organisational knowledge necessary for those nurses who work on the interface of the statutory and voluntary sectors in health, education and social care.
How do communities protect and improve the health of their populations? Health care is part of the answer but so are environmental protections, social and educational services, adequate nutrition, and a host of other activities. With concern over funding constraints, making sure such activities are efficient and effective is becoming a high priority. Improving Health in the Community explains how population-based performance monitoring programs can help communities point their efforts in the right direction. Within a broad definition of community health, the committee addresses factors surrounding the implementation of performance monitoring and explores the "why" and "how to" of establishing mechanisms to monitor the performance of those who can influence community health. The book offers a policy framework, applies a multidimensional model of the determinants of health, and provides sets of prototype performance indicators for specific health issues. Improving Health in the Community presents an attainable vision of a process that can achieve community-wide health benefits.
This uniquely accessible volume challenges professionals to understand—and help correct—health disparities, both at the patient level and in their larger social contexts. Dedicated to eradicating this ongoing injustice, contributors focus on marginalized populations, the role of healthcare systems in perpetuating inequities, the need for deeper engagement and listening by professionals, and the need for advocacy within professional education and the political/policy arena. The compelling case narratives at the core of the book illustrate the interrelated biopsychosocial components of patients’ health problems and the gradations of learning needed for practitioners to address them effectively. The book’s tools for developing a health disparities curriculum include a selection of workshop exercises, facilitator resources, and a brief guide to writing effective case narratives. A sampling of the narratives: “Finding the Person in Patient-Centered Health Care” (race/ethnicity/culture). “The Annual Big Girl / Big Boy Exchange” (gender). “Just Give Me Narcan and Let Me Go” (poverty/addiction). “Everyone Called Him Crazy” (immigration). “Adrift in the System” (disability). “Aging out of Pediatrics” (mental illness and stigma). “Time to Leave” (LGBT) A work of profound compassion, Health Disparities will be of considerable interest to researchers and practitioners interested in public health, population health, health disparities, and related fields such as sociology, social work, and narrative medicine. Its wealth of educational features also makes it a quality training text. "I was impressed when I read Health Disparities: Weaving a New Understanding through Case Narratives. As a patient who has experienced unpleasant situations in health care, I was moved to see that it was emotional and personal for the writers. The book confirms for me that the time is now for change to take place in our health care systems. I see this book as a light that can shine bright in the darkest places of health care. The editors have assembled a powerful book that provides all health professionals with specific steps they can take towards addressing and then eventually eliminating health disparities. A few steps that I really connected with were improving critical awareness, delivering quality care, listening and empathizing with patients and families, and advocating for changes. I recommend that anyone interested in working to improve health care obtain a copy of this book—it’s filled with useful information that every medical professional should know. The book reminds me of a quote by Wayne Dyer, 'When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.'" -Delores Collins, Founder and Executive Director, A Vision of Change Incorporated, Certified Community Health Worker. Founder of The Greater Cleveland Community Health Workers Association.
In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.
Examining the assessment of need in children's services this book addresses the full spectrum of practice, policy and research developments in the field. The contributors include leading academics, policy makers and senior practitioners who generate a broad-based holistic approach to the assessment of children in need. They show how needs assessment in children's services can be used to tackle problems such as low achievement, mental ill-health and social exclusion at both individual and strategic levels. Approaches to the Assessment of Need in Children's Services will enable service managers and practitioners to respond effectively to the increasing pressure to monitor outcomes and effectiveness in child care work, and to improve and coordinate children's welfare service provision at individual and community levels and provides an indispensable overview and analysis for anyone working or studying in child welfare and social care.
Community health workers (CHWs) are an increasingly important member of the healthcare and public health professions who help build primary care capacity. Yet, in spite of the exponential growth of CHW interventions, CHW training programs, and CHW certification and credentialing by state agencies, a gap persists in the literature regarding current CHW roles and skills, scope of practice, CHW job settings, and national standards. This collection of contributions addresses this gap by providing information, in a single volume, about CHWs, the roles CHWs play as change agents in their communities, integration of CHWs into healthcare teams, and support and recognition of the CHW profession. The book supports the CHW definition as defined by the American Public Health Association (APHA), Community Health Worker Section (2013), which states, “A community health worker is a frontline public health worker who is a trusted member of and/or has an unusually close understanding of the community served.” The scope of the text follows the framework of the nationally recognized roles of CHWs that came out of a national consensus-building project called “The Community Health Worker (CHW) Core Consensus (C3) Project”. Topics explored among the chapters include: Cultural Mediation Among Individuals, Communities, and Health and Social Service Systems Care Coordination, Case Management, and System Navigation Advocating for Individuals and Communities Building Individual and Community Capacity Implementing Individual and Community Assessments Participating in Evaluation and Research Uniting the Workforce: Building Capacity for a National Association of Community Health Workers Promoting the Health of the Community is a must-have resource for CHWs, those interested in CHW scope of practice and/or certification/credentialing, anyone interested in becoming a CHW, policy-makers, CHW payer systems, CHW supervisors, CHW employers, CHW instructors/trainers, CHW advocates/supporters, and communities served by CHWs.
Documenting the success and result of patient navigation programs, this book represents the culmination of years of research and practical experience by scientific leaders in the field. A practical guide to creating, implementing, and evaluating successful programs, Patient Naviation - Overcoming Barriers to Care offers a step-by-step guide towards creating and implementing a patient navigation program within a healthcare system. Providing a formal structure for evaluation and quality improvement this book is an essential resource for facilities seeking patient navigation services accreditation.
Needs and Capacity Assessment Strategies for Health Education and Health Promotion, Fourth Edition provides practitioners with a handbook that can be used in the classroom and in the field. It focuses on realistic needs and capacity assessment strategies with considerations for preparation, implementation, and incorporation of findings into the planning process. It also provides an overview of settings, specific target audiences, approaches to assessing needs, and recommendations for addressing problems encountered along the way. The Fourth Edition continues to be reader friendly and worthwhile in terms of practical recommendations. The twelve chapters are realistic process discussions with mini-examples at the end based on the authors’ experiences and those of others in the field. Case studies provide insight into various combinations of strategies used in a variety of settings. Two special articles at the end of the book provide further insight regarding community risk estimation and the use of metaphors to gain a better understanding of the perceived needs and capacities that are assessed.
