An Inter-disciplinary Approach to Assessing the Health Needs of a Community..

Project II Title: An Inter-disciplinary Approach to Assessing the Health Needs of a Community..

 

Faculty leaders:         Joan Thoman, PhD, RN, Nursing (CSU)

TBD, Anthropology (CSU)

TBD, Sociology (CSU)

 

Purpose of the Project: To enhance community engagement and service by bringing together the expertise from Liberal Arts and Nursing to assist nursing students conduct a community health needs assessment (CHNA).  The CHNA includes the following:

1. Examine health needs of an identified community
2. Identify resources that exist to meet at least one health need
3. Investigate social and political forces that affect change in an identified community
4. Describe findings centered  on evidence-based practice and the potential community health interventions

Basic Description of the Project: The CHNA is designed to be completed over a course semester with students working in groups to collect and analyze the data.  The CHNA is a systemic collection of data about the characteristics of an identified community including organizations, people, partnerships, facilities, funding, policies, regulations, and a community’s collective experience. The data help to identify community assets and formulate health problems and concerns. Incorporating cultural anthropological and sociological approaches to the nursing community health assessment broadens the lens in which students view the community and enhances the findings.  The information gathered can help provide direction for community organizations to use in a meaningful way.

 

Centrality of the Faculty:  Joan Thoman, PhD, RN is the faculty member responsible for teaching the didactic Community Health Nursing course and leading 10-14 clinical faculty who teach the associated clinical course.  Each clinical group has10-12 students, totaling approximately 160 nursing students each spring semester. A major assignment for these students is the completion of a systemic health needs assessment of a specific local or territorial community.  Two faculty from the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (Anthropology and Sociology) will collaborate with Dr. Thoman to incorporate a liberal arts perspective into the course.  A faculty teaching cultural anthropology will enhance the student’s understanding of the community’s customs, traditions, religions and rituals; and the faculty from the Department of Sociology and Criminology will contribute to the student’s learning about researching modern social problems using statistics, interviews and participant observation.

Methods of Delivery: Students in the School of Nursing complete a CHNA as part of the Community course required of all nursing students. The assessment identifies key health needs and issues through systematic, comprehensive data collection and analysis.  Faculty from the Departments of Anthropology and Sociology and Criminology will collaborate with the School of Nursing to identify key learning objectives.  Liberal Arts content will be developed to enhance the nursing student’s understanding of its significance in influencing their work in the community.  Public Sphere Engagement processes will be utilized.

Outcomes:

• Short Term:
• Re-designed course assignment incorporating principals from Cultural Anthropology and Sociology.
• Faculty from the Departments of Anthropology and Sociology provide separate lectures to nursing students.
• Lectures are video-taped
• Incorporate the principals learned from Cultural Anthropology and Sociology into the CHNA assignment for all clinical groups (16-20). The groups present to their classmates and to the community constituency. A copy of the CHNA is provided to the constituency. Grading will be done by faculty from each discipline based on developed criteria.

 

• Long      Term:
• Utilize       video-taped lectures with guest visits from Liberal Arts faculty in       future classes.
• Incorporate       inter-professional collaboration for the community assessment into       curriculum on an ongoing basis.
• Students,       under the guidance of faculty, present findings and recommendations       including providing a written copy of the overall CHNA report to the       community constituency, who then are able to use the information for       strategic community planning and/or other purposes to promote the health       of the public.

 

Plans for Sustainability: The program is easily sustainable by the ongoing use of video-taped lectures and guest faculty visits to the classroom.

Plans for Dissemination: The final presentation/product will be collaborative with each discipline presenting their view.  Inter-professional presentations will be planned for fellow students and for community constituency (hospitals, community/public health agencies, schools, local government officials, not for profit agencies etc…).

Funds Requested: $4499. The funds requested will provide support for developing an interdisciplinary strategy towards the CHNA.  Specifically will provide a stipend to two Liberal Arts faculty (Anthropology and Sociology) for the development and implementation of lectures to the nursing students in the Community Health Course; and cover the costs of videotaping the lectures for use in future classes.