What is a Needs Assessment?

What is a Needs Assessment? An introduction By Jacob Coverstone Jcoverstone@aao.org I have no financial interest to disclose.

Objectives Attendees will be able to: • Define Needs Assessment • Create and utilize an outline for conducting a Needs Assessment • Understand types of identified needs • Normative • Relative • Expressed • Perceived

When do you conduct a Needs Assessment? • A Needs Assessment takes place before the activity is designed.

Why do you conduct a Needs Assessment? • The purpose of a Needs Assessment is to make decisions regarding priorities for the program. • If you conduct a proper Needs Assessment, you will address or support 9 of the 22 Updated Criteria and 3 of 7 Essential Elements [C2, C3, C4, C6, C16, C18, C19, C21, C22, E2.1, E2.2, E2.3]

Needs Assessments are about Evidence • Can you answer: • “what evidence do we have that our audience needs this education?” • “what evidence do we have that our solution will yield positive results?” • “what is the reason that we are offering education in this format?”

“It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is” –Former President Bill Clinton • Definitions 1: • Gap • Need • Want • Assessment • Needs Assessment

Definitions 1 • Gaps • The space between what currently exists and what should exist. • Needs are contributing factors • What needs to be resolved to help close a gap. • Needs often relate to barriers • Wants are possible solutions • A proposed means to filling the gap. • Assessment is the evaluation of needs, barriers and resources.

Definitions 1, continued. • Needs Assessment is the process of identifying and measuring areas for improvement in a target audience, and determining the methods to achieve improvement. So important, it has its own slide.

What goes into a Needs Assessment? • Normative data • Evaluations • Objectives • Opinion • Timelines • Barriers • Resources “What does it take to get your activity off the ground?”

So… what is a Needs Assessment? Pre-Assessment Needs Assessment Assessment Action Plan

Phases of a Needs Assessment • Pre-Assessment • Data collection. “What do we know?” • This is the foundation of Gap Analysis • What is the current state? • Where should we be? • How does our region compare to others? • What’s new? • What’s important?

Phases of a Needs Assessment • Assessment • Evaluation of the data • What are our barriers? • Both internal and external • What Needs have we identified? • Are some gaps bigger than others? • Consider both scope and severity • What are our priorities? • Do we have the resources to address them? • Why do anything at all?

Phases of a Needs Assessment • Action Plan • How are we going to translate what we have into what they need? • Which Needs can we address? • How are we overcoming barriers? • List additional barriers hindering progress • Have any areas been identified for follow-up or future opportunities for educational intervention?

Gathering Data • Search for objective measures: • Scope: How many, or what percent, of patients are exposed/vulnerable/expected to suffer from… • Severity: What are the consequences? • Discomfort? Pain? Blindness? • Are there national standards for treatment? • Can we do better?

Assessment, an example: “It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses.” - Elwood Blues, The Blues Brothers

It's not what you know, it's how you know it. • Needs (gaps) are identified in 4 ways: • Types of Need • Normative • Relative • Expressed • Perceived

Types of Need • Normative • Defined as falling below a standard criterion established by custom, authority, or general consensus. • Strength: • Allows planners to use objective targets • Weakness: • Need levels change with time and must be re-evaluated

Types of Need, cont. • Relative • Measured by the gap between the level of service between similar communities • Strength: • Can lead to a priority for distribution of limited resources • Weakness: • Limits resource allocation to under-performing areas

Types of Need, cont. • Expressed • Defined in terms of the number of people who actually have sought help • Strength: • Focuses on situations where people have taken action • Helps to determine barriers • Weakness: • Not all people with Needs seek help • Loss of the bigger picture • Misses latent Needs

Types of Need, cont. • Perceived • Defined in terms of what people think their needs are or feel their needs to be • Strength: • Easy to come by • Weakness: • Subjective • Subject to the Dunning-Kruger effect

Problems must be translated into Needs • Strive to answer all 4 types of Need. • Each type of need paints a different picture of the gap.

Needs are translated into Objectives • But that’s another talk…

Remember • Want and Need are not synonyms. • A Needs Assessment is conducted before the activity is planned. • Pre-Assessment is not enough. • The more types of need you consider, the richer the planning process and the more effective the education. “What gets measured gets managed” – Peter Drucker.

What is a Needs Assessment?