1

Understanding Your Community

AndAssessing Your Community

Health Assets & Needs

Folakemi T. Odedina, PhD Professor, College of Pharmacy

Director, UFPDC Community Outreach & Minority Affairs

University of Florida

2

Financial Disclosure

• NONE

3

Acknowledgement• Funding Support provided by:• University of Florida• College of Pharmacy• Shands Cancer Center• Office of the Vice President of

Research

4

Learning Objectives

• Understand community health assessment.

• Understand the action steps necessary for community health assessment and evaluation.

5

Required ReadingCenters for Disease Control and Prevention. Community Health Assessment and Group Evaluation (CHANGE) Action Guide: Building a Foundation of Knowledge to Prioritize Community Needs. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2010.http://www.cdc.gov/healthycommunitiesprogram/tools/change/pdf/changeactionguide.pdf

6

CHA Defined• A continuous process involving

data collection, analyses, interpretation and dissemination of community health status, assets, needs, and gaps.

7

• Engage residents to address community health.

• Determine health and disease patterns, pathways, causes and consequences.

• Establish the use of, access to, and management of health resources within the community.

• Develop community-tailored interventions to improve community health.

• Determine process and outcome benchmarks to assess the effectiveness of community-based interventions in improving health or reducing disease burden.

Guide tool to help:

8

Action Steps

9

1. Assemble the Community Team 2. Develop Team Strategy 3. Review Community Sectors 4. Gather Data5. Review Data Gathered6. Enter Data7. Review Consolidated Data8. Build the Community Action

Plan

Action Steps

10

Assemble the Community Team

• Define “the community”.• Assemble a team of 10-12 representing

diverse key stakeholders within the community.

• Define purpose and clarify vision.• Develop rules, roles, procedures, and

responsibilities .• Raise awareness about the team.• Generate funds to support the team.• Assign tasks to each member based on skills

and available resources.

Action Step 1

11

Develop Team Strategy

• Team members work together to develop a consensus on strategy for CHA.

• Team may decide to work as a group or create sub-groups that will report back to the group.

Action Step 2

12

Confirm assessment needs for all community sectors

• Five community sectors1. Community-At-Large2. Community

Institutions/Organizations3. Health Care4. School5. Work Site

Action Step 3

13

• Demographic– Demographics of people within the community.

• Physical Activity – To what extent does the community maintain parks.

• Nutrition – To what extent does the community encourage community

gardening.

• Tobacco – To what extent does the community institute a smoke-free

policy.

• Chronic Disease Management – To what extent does the community provide emergency

medical care.

• Leadership – To what extent does the community participate in the

public policy process.

1. Community-At-Large

Community-wide efforts that impact the social and built environments, such as food access, walkability or bikeability, tobacco-free policies, and personal safety.

14

• Demographic– Demographics of organization e.g. private vs public.

• Physical Activity – To what extent does the COI provide a safe area.

• Nutrition – To what extent does the COI institute nutritional labeling

in food venues.

• Tobacco – To what extent does the COI ban tobacco vending sales.

• Chronic Disease Management – To what extent does the COI provide access to an onsite

nurse.

• Leadership – To what extent does the COI have a wellness coordinator.

2. Community Institution/Organization (CIO)

Entities within the community that provide a broad range of human services and access to facilities, such as faith-based organizations, senior centers, wellness organizations, and colleges and universities.

15

• Demographic– Demographics e.g. # of staff, # of patients.

• Physical Activity – To what extent does the HCF promote stairwell use.

• Nutrition – To what extent does the HCF institute healthy food

purchasing for cafeteria.

• Tobacco – To what extent does the HCF provide advice and counseling

about tobacco use.

• Chronic Disease Management – To what extent does the HCF provide cancer screening for at-

risk adults.

• Leadership – To what extent does the HCF provide access to medical

services outside of regular working hours

3. Health Care facility (HCF)

Places people go to receive preventive care or treatment, or emergency health care services, such as hospitals, private doctors’ offices, and community clinics.

16

• Demographic– Demographics e.g. # of students, type of school.

• Physical Activity – To what extent does the school implement bike ride or walk

initiative.

• Nutrition – To what extent does the school implement free breakfast at

school.

• Tobacco – To what extent does the school implement a referral system

for tobacco cessation.

• Chronic Disease Management – To what extent does the school provide access to

chronic disease self-management education programs.• Leadership

– To what extent does the school have a health promotion budget.

4. School

All primary and secondary learning institutions, including public and private.

17

• Demographic– Demographics e.g. # of employees, type of work site.

• Physical Activity – To what extent does the work site promote stairwell use.

• Nutrition – To what extent does the work site provide refrigerator

access to employees.• Tobacco

– To what extent does the work site ban tobacco advertisement.

• Chronic Disease Management – To what extent does the work site provide routine screening

and immunizations.• Leadership

– To what extent does the work site reimburse employees for wellness activities.

5. Work Site

Places of employment, such as private offices, restaurants, retail establishments, and government offices.

18

Data Collection

• Assessment phase• Existing data can be used if less that six

months.• Data collection at all relevant sites to

determine where changes are needed.• Use mixed-methods for data collection – Observation– Survey – Focus group

Action Step 4

19

Data Review, Entry & Interpretation

• Provides clear picture of: – Strengths– Weaknesses– Available resources – Areas of improvement

Action Steps 5 - 7

20

Community Action Plan

• Develop and organize annual SMART objectives based on the data.o Specific - Who/What?oMeasurable – how much?o Achievable within a time frame and

available resources.o Realistico Time-phased, including completion time

and/or when the objective will be measured.

Action Step 8

21

Moving Forward• Start Small and Keep it Simple.• Don’t compete; Collaborate.• REMEMBER ...

• Need representation of diverse expertise on your team.

• Disseminate Community Action Plan widely within the community and to all stakeholders.

• Document and celebrate your successes.• Cyclical process for continuous community

health improvement.

Remember!

If the problems are in the community;

The solutions are in the community

22