Program Planning: Community Nutrition Assessment

1. Program Planning: Community Nutrition Assessment

2. Program Planning Basics • Systematic process • Continual feedback and evaluation • Cyclical: based on increasing understandings of the true nature of the situation and the effectiveness of interventions. • Starts with an assessment of the current situation

3. Why Do Assessment?

4. Community Nutrition Assessment: • Anchors interventions in the reality of the community • Essential part of ongoing process: • Needs assessment • Designing and implementing interventions • Evaluation • Feedback for improvement • Includes community and stakeholders as fully active participants

5. Community Nutrition Assessment: • Based on assets more than deficits • Helps to integrate nutrition programs into community-based institutions and initiatives

6. Successful Community Assessment Includes: • Understanding current conditions of families, individuals, institutions & policies • Evaluating local capacities for supporting change • Building community support for implementing changes

7. Models and Protocols for Community Assessment • Planned Approaches to Community Health (PATCH) – CDC • Assessment Protocol for Excellence in Public Health (APEXPH) – NACHO (National Association of County Health Officials) • Moving to the Future: Developing Community Based Nutrition Services – ASTPHND (Association of State and Territorial Public Health Nutrition Directors)

8. Strategic Planning for Initiatives to Address Local Health Efforts • Organize a community planning group • Define community boundaries • Gather information • Statistical profile • Qualitative data • Community Resources & Environments • Policies Agency for Health Care Policy and Research

9. Strategic Planning, cont. • Analyze Information • Common issues • High risk individuals • Unmet needs • Prioritize • Develop and implement plan • Monitor and evaluate plan

10. Community Nutrition Planning Group: Responsibilities • Collect data and information • Identify needs and gaps • Set priorities • Develop a plan • Help to implement interventions • Assist in evaluation • Of assessment, planning, and intervention process • Of impact of intervention

11. Community Nutrition Planning Group: Potential Members • Community leaders & advocates • Consumers • Health and nutrition service providers • Health organizations • Schools • Political office holders or their staff • Fitness, Parks & Rec professionals • Representatives from greater community health planning groups • Food systems representatives

12. Community Description • Geographic boundaries • General history • Key people and leaders • Demographics • Financial & economic information • Important issues • Morale and involvement levels • Key allies and rivals • Unspoken rules and norms • Attitudes and opinions • Strengths and shortcomings

13. Identify Community Assets • Physical structure, place, business • Concerned citizens • History of successful efforts • Organizations • Individual and group skills • Communications systems • Relationships

14. Identify Perceived Needs • WHY? • To understand public opinion • To become aware of needs the planning group doesn’t know about • To gather support & expand group expertise • To make decisions about priorities • To plan programs in ways that will be acceptable to stakeholders

15. How do we assess perceived needs? • Listening sessions • Public forums • Key informant interviews • Needs assessment survey or survey of concerns

16. Demographic Profile • Economic status: income, employment, % below poverty • Education levels • Age and gender • Race & ethnicity • Social factors: homelessness, immigration status, family composition, TANF utilization

17. Community Health Status • Causes of Mortality • Hospital discharge data • Disease prevalence data • Food bourne illness reports • Years of potential life lost • Infant mortality

18. Community Nutritional Status • Pregnancy related: • weight gain in pregnancy • Pre-pregnancy weight • Anemia • Disease prevalence: HIV/AIDS, cardiovascular disease, diabetes • Activity levels (BRFSS) • Food intake: fat, fruits & vegetables (BRFSS) • Dental health • Food/dieting related behaviors (YRBS) • Food Security (BRFSS)

19. Community Nutrition Resources • Food assistance programs (WIC, SNAP, summer feeding programs for school children, etc.) • Educational programs • Media • Professional and non-profit organizations • Nutrition counseling

20. Community Food Resources • Grocery stores with high quality produce • Food service with health promoting food options • Farmers’ Markets • Vegetable gardens • Community Supported Agriculture • Supports for growing local foods

21. Community Resources & Service Utilization • What resources are available? • To what extent are people using them? • Sources of Information: • Citizens • Service providers • Tools • Existing data • Interviews • Surveys

22. Criteria for defining/prioritizing community problems • Frequency • Duration • Scope or range • Severity • Perceptions • Root causes (“but why?”) & ability to impact root causes (effectiveness of interventions) • Barriers to resolutions • Political and financial support

23. Group Work: Develop Problem List • Brainstorm nutrition related issues & problems that arise from these data • Choose 5 issues that are of interest to all stakeholders • Prioritize these issues using criteria in these slides • Establish the one issue or problem that all stakeholders will be comfortable working on for the next two weeks