 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
|
| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Kathy Akpom, PhD, MPH, Community Health Program, Department of Health Professions, Youngstown State University, One University Plaza, Youngstown, OH 44555, 330-941-1901, kakpom@aol.com, Lana Ilain, BSAS, Department of Health Professions, Youngstown State University, One University Plaza, Youngstown, OH 44555, and James T. Hill, MS in Ed, Cooperative Extension, Ohio State University, 520 West Main, Suite One, Cortland, OH 44410.
The purpose of the described strategy was to identify and prioritize community need and to create broad-based community activism. This provided the basis for development of sustainable partnerships, resulting in improvements in multiple social determinants of health. The strategy involved key stakeholders representing multiple community systems in a simultaneous process of needs assessment. The community systems were: Arts and Recreation; Business, Industry and Economic Development; Civic and Fraternal; Clergy; Community Volunteers; Education; Health Care; Housing; Human Services; Judicial/Law Enforcement; Labor; Mayors; Media; Substance Abuse; and Students. A total of 140 people simultaneously participated in the needs assessment. Single system groups of 10-12 people concurrently participated in the nominal group process activity, each led by a trained facilitator. By the end of approximately one hour, 335 ideas were generated, and discussed with 9 priority needs identified. Along with key informant, service delivery, and socio-economic data, the nominal group process priorities formed the basis for planning and policy development among many partners who participated from multiple systems. Programs have been developed and sustained to meet the identified needs for at-risk youth in academics and enrichment, as well as employment training and job placement for high-risk young adults. Systematic planning was required by numerous stakeholders from multiple community systems to successfully recruit participants for this needs assessment. Participatory planning is time consuming, but the payoffs two-fold: information was efficiently collected from a broad community perspective, and many participants subsequently became involved in planning and programming to meet the identified needs.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Needs Assessment, Planning
Related Web page: None
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.