BSN -FP4002 : Community Health Assessment
Community Health Assessment
Type of Data Needed to Make an Informed Community Health Assessment
Various data regarding community’s medical history, insurance information, test and laboratory results, and demographic data will be fundamental in determining the appropriate health care needs. There are two types of data, which will be important in making an informed community health assessment. The two categories include primary and secondary data. Primary data will be collected through observations, speeches, case studies, questionnaires, surveys, listening sessions, and interviews. On the other hand, secondary data already exist and will be collected from other entities. The sources would include government reports, previous research, national surveys, web information, and public statistics records. Community health indicators will also be used as a great source of community health information. The indicators are similar to secondary data, which has been collected for a specific purpose and can be used to compare the trends and rates of priority community health outcomes. The sources of community-level indicators are prevention status reports (PSR), community health status indicators, and county health rankings. The indicators must be reliable, feasible, meaningful, and methodologically sound. According to Bowling (2014), both the data and indicators provides comprehensive information both on socioeconomic and demographic characteristics (Bowling, 2014).
How the Data Will Help Determine the Health Care Needs of the Community
Well analyzed and interpreted data provides descriptive information, which is an important base for decision-making and addressing health issues of the underserved community (Bowling, 2014). The analysis of the collected data will help in monitoring progress and determine whether the proposed actions have the desired outcome. They will also identify fundamental parts of health determinants and health status, such as social and physical environments, behaviour, and healthcare use. In addition, the data will also help various medical professionals to promote healthcare education, diagnosis, disease prevention, and support terminal care.
Strategy for Obtaining the Necessary Data
There are different strategies for collecting the necessary data. The methods can be categorized into distinct classes based on their nature. Complete enumeration approach is one of the strategies and would involve frame surveys for data with census approach methods (Weiskopf & Weng, 2013). The method can be used when the population is small and applies finer techniques such as sampling. Sample based approach will also be used independently as a tool for collecting the necessary data. This approach includes sample surveys and deals with selected subset of the targeted population. In addition, questionnaires and interviews will be valuable tools for data collection where the audience will be the community, patients, and healthcare practitioners.
Factors That Impact the Health and Wellness of a Community
There are various factors that impact health and wellness of a community and may be classified as physical, social, economic, and political factors (Kuehnert, Graber, & Stone, 2014). The physical factors that determine the population health include exposure to proximity to toxic sites, air pollution, availability of medical care, healthy or unhealthy foods, and transportation systems. Environmental factors refer to those things connected with the environment such as hygiene and weather patterns. Social factors can encompass people’s beliefs, lifestyles and cultures which have the potential of influencing their perception and attitudes on health needs. Economic factors that impact community health relates to social status and income. Individuals with higher social statuses and income are linked to better health. Therefore, the wider the gap between the poor and the rich in the underserved community, the greater the variances in their health needs. Political factors include the policies which affect health issues such as compliance with health insurance.
How to obtain information on these factors?
Obtaining information on the above-stated factors would involve using both the primary and secondary sources. For instance, to understand some environmental effects of health will require secondary sources of information from UNEP and other environmental bodies, while information on social environment will be obtained through primary sources including field study to determine people’s views about health issues. Economic data will be obtained from Bureau of Economic Analysis, Treasury, Census Bureau, and Bureau of Labor Statistics. Political information can be obtained from secondary sources such as Government Gazette, journals, and newspapers (Pennel, McLeroy, Burdine, & Matarrita-Cascante, 2015).
To determine the validity and reliability of Data
Determining the reliability and validity of the collected data will require using hypothesis tests and statistical measures. Reliability will be verified by ensuring consistency and stability of the data collected. Validity would involve collecting the right data from the right sources. This would involve identifying the collect assessment population and ecology. During the evaluation, the use of randomization and control groups would assist in minimizing external validity problems.
Conclusion
Community Health Assessment is a process that requires meticulous planning and searching for reliable and accurate information, which is feasible for making proper health decisions. Information can be sourced from primary, secondary, and community indicators to serve as an important source of information. The data is crucial when it comes to analyzing the community health needs and making correct decisions.
BSN -FP4002 : Community Health Assessment
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