Community Health Assessment sample essay

Analysis of Community Health Assessment

Introduction

The duration of existence of any human being is ultimately determined by the extent of physical care that they extend to their bodies. There is a unique interaction that exists between the health status of a person and the quality of their immediate environment. The society or community that a person belongs to has a lot of significant importance when it comes to ascertaining where the members of that area live or reside in a decent environment. This explains why the study of community health holds a lot of importance as it strives to ensure that people live in places that promote and prolong their existence. The analysis and evaluation into a given community can be able to provide credible information on their state of health as well as some of the most pressing concerns. This paper is an essay that provides a community health assessment of the York University Heights in terms of the vital aspects that affect most individuals in the area.

Neighborhood and community of focus: York University Heights.

Body of the Essay

Data Collection Methods

The York University Heights is one of the common neighborhoods in Toronto and it is home to people who are from diverse descents. This community is known to host immigrants from Italy and China as well as many Jamaicans and Indian residents. This makes this location a very interesting one when it comes to evaluating the state of health of its members. The main data collection methods that were used in this assessment entailed the use of secondary sources where a lot of qualitative data was used. This method relied on already published papers and articles to collect information about the York University Heights community.

These sources indicated that the majority of people in this community fell under the age bracket of between 25 years and 64 years. The rest of the population were mostly young children and the youth that accounted for the smaller percentage. This method of data collection focused on obtaining information that was relevant to the study of the health of the community (Adano, 2016). Hence, a lot of details that were gathered revolved around knowing the number of ethnic groups in the area, their age, status of residency, marital status, number of people in one household as well as the income of the parents. Additionally, data was collected in relation to how much money a given family spend on housing and how much was specifically allocated to food.

The secondary methods of collecting data also obtained information regarding whether people of the York University Heights community were satisfied with their current standards of living. This method was also combined with one primary strategy of collecting data so as to ensure that the study remained credible (Waitzkin, 2016). This involved interviewing a number of people in the community as well as issuing questionnaires that aimed at gathering information on the most important aspects of their health. The reason why both primary and secondary sources were combined in because they are some of the most reliable ways to collect data. What’s more, secondary sources rely on information that has already been approved by other researchers and this makes it more valid (Carey and Crammond, 2015). COMMUNITY HEALTH ASSESSMENT ANALYSIS SAMPLE ESSAY PAPER

Likewise, primary sources provide first-hand information about a given issue and in this case, they helped in strengthening the results obtained from secondary sources such as publications and articles (Crammond, 2014). The use of interviews in this community health assignment was very instrumental as it provided a lot of details in regards to the York University Heights people and their ways of life.

b) Key informants consulted

The people that were chosen from this study were chosen from each of the ethnic communities present in the York University Heights location. This people were also selected based on their age where the inclusion criteria meant that they had to be above 25 years of age. These people were deemed valuable to the study as they had lived in this place for quite some time. What’s more, their educational backgrounds showed that they had an inclination towards community and public health. This is a positive attribute that ensured that it would be much easier to undertake the assessment with them. Additionally, they formed important partners for the process of promoting better health in the York University Heights community as they understood the ways of life of most people.

c) Diagnosis of community health issue

The majority of people that live within the York University Heights were shown to face a number of health issues that were brought about by their immediate community. These challenges closely relate to the social determinants of health that deal with the string forces and systems that shape the life of a person (Schroepfer, 2016). Most commonly, these forces are present in the community that people are based as well as their areas of residence. The three social determinants of health that affect the people living in York University Heights includes their level of income, access to medical care as well as standards of living.

These three factors impact on the health of most people in this area and the community at large. The survey that was conducted showed that most people living in this region earned less than ten dollars on a daily basis. This amount is too little to cater for their household needs or even allow the members to live comfortably. A low income status is a serious deterrent to health because it means that people cannot afford enough food, decent living or even access quality health care (Schifferdecker and Bazos, 2016). Moreover, it also means that their dependents may not have access to the best quality education and this can affect them in the future.

The same case was seen in the York University Heights community where people that had lower incomes spend more on housing and food such that there was little money left to cater for education. Secondly, the access to medical care was shown to be a huge problem according to the information gathered from questionnaires and interviews. The results showed that most of the people could not be able to afford health care because of their low income. Additionally, others could not also afford to pay for their medical insurance because it would mean cutting down on some household expenses.

The issue of health care was also shown to be a major problem because people were accorded medical attention based on their ethnic affiliation. The third social determinant of health is the living standards of most people in York University Heights that was mostly influenced by their marital status, number of dependents and even the amount of disposable income that they had. A large percentage of people in this community stated that they were not comfortable with their current status of living. These individuals gave the main reasons for this as lack of a stable source of livelihood, family issues and even lack of government support through subsidies. All these three social determinants have an impact on the health of the people in York University Heights because it affects their ability to afford a decent diet and eve access medical attention whenever they want. COMMUNITY HEALTH ASSESSMENT ANALYSIS SAMPLE ESSAY PAPER

d) Suggestion of two preliminary recommendations to address the identified health issue.

There are a number of viable suggestions and recommendations that can be made in regards to the health issues facing the York University Heights community. The first way of solving the medical issues facing the community is by providing alternative ways that would ensure people are able to afford decent health care (Osiecki, 2016). This can be done through the introduction of policies and packages that cam make medical insurance affordable.

Alternatively, the health department within this area can choose to offer incentives that would motivate the people to seek proper and high quality medical care. The implementation of these suggestions can be a challenging and tricky task, but is could also see an end to the problems facing the community (Osiecki, 2016). Perhaps the people involved should lobby for support from their government so that enough financial resources are made available to introduce subsidy programs as well as affordable medical insurance policies.

Conclusion

The study of community health is an important academic field that focuses on analyzing how people are able to live and interact safely in their places of residence. The focus on the York University Heights as the chosen community provides a lot of information regarding the social determinants that affects their physical health. The access to medical care, level of income as well as the standards of living are the common issues that face people in this community. The fact that most people do not have a decent income means that they cannot afford quality meals or housing. Likewise, the access to medical services is limited due to the fact that most people in York University Heights lack insurance covers while others cannot afford it altogether. The most plausible recommendations for this issue is to introduce policies and programs that will supplement people’s income as well as subsidize medical care so that it is made affordable for all. COMMUNITY HEALTH ASSESSMENT ANALYSIS SAMPLE ESSAY PAPER.

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