To conduct a community assessment, you will need to consult directly with different stakeholders in your chosen community to get their input on what they believe is needed to bring about transformative change. Collaborate with your community to identify one or two community problems, and provide an example of what needs to change in order for transformation to take place in at least one of the social determinants of health. Remember: the issue you identify might seem obvious to you, but all of its social determinants might be less transparent. In addressing the determinants, keep in mind that there could be broader social factors that need deeper probing before you see where they originate. Be sure that the issue(s) you select for action are modifiable factors that you and your community can influence.
Describe the process and results of your community assessment in a paper of no more than 2500 words (about 10 double-spaced pages, excluding appendices), using Times New Roman 12 point font. Use the APA Style Guide to format your paper, and be sure to include citations and a reference list.
Address the following points in your paper, and where warranted, include research evidence (citations) to support your answers.
Use one or more of the approaches discussed in the course (medicine wheel, determinants model, or problem tree analysis) to assess your chosen community, and analyse and identify a problem/issue to address.
Use Freire’s problem-posing method to get to the root causes of the problem, and to identify how various social factors affect the issue you’re concerned with.
Describe who was included in the assessment, their criteria for inclusion, and who was involved in deciding the priority issue. Be sure to include those most affected by the problems that exist, as outlined in Assignment 1 (you can include the list of participants in an appendix).
Describe the effectiveness of the methods you use to gather information about the community and the problem (you can include the list of methods in an appendix).
Describe the level of participation of your community members. Try to engage them beyond the level of consultation and informing (rungs 3 and 4 on the ladder of participation).
Apply critical thinking principles to analyse the results of the assessment.
Identify one or two community problems, and provide an example of what needs to change in order for transformation to take place in at least one of the social determinants of health
Identify and discuss the challenges of using a participatory approach to assessing a community and identifying community problems.