Conducting Community Needs Assessments : Planning for the growing older population

1. Conducting Community Needs Assessments: Planning for the growing older population Jan Mutchler, PhD, Caitlin Coyle, MS & Hayley Gravette, MSW University of Massachusetts Boston Department of Gerontology Massachusetts Council on Aging Conference 2012 October 3, 2012 Falmouth, MA

2. Outline of today’s presentation: • What is a needs assessment? • How can a needs assessment be helpful to a Council on Aging? • Components of a needs assessment • Working with a research partner

3. What is a needs assessment? • “a systematic set of procedures undertaken for the purpose of setting priorities and making decisions about program or organizational improvement and allocation of resources” –Witkin and Altschuld, 1995 • Three basic components: • Pre-assessment • Assessment • Post-assessment • Keep the goal in mind • No absolutes

4. How can a needs assessment be helpful to a Council on Aging? • Provide backdrop for planning • Achieve internal goals • Achieve external goals

5. Pre-assessment: planning • Understand WHY you are conducting a needs assessment • Broad and informative • Targeted to a specific goal • Develop a thorough roadmap and timeline for the process • Accept that this will change and be delayed • Identify areas of concern or potential barriers • Develop strategies about how to overcome them

6. Promoting awareness • Create community buy-in before the assessment begins: • Propose plan to community leaders • News releases • Letter from public official (s) • Post-card mailing • Flyers • Local events

7. Assessment:sources of data • Demographic data from existing sources • Census; American Community Survey • Focus groups • Conducting a sample survey • Key informant interviews • Each source of data hasstrengths, limitations, challenges

8. Using demographic data • Opportunities and examples • Data from the decennial Census (latest was 2010) for every community: age, race, sex, household composition, owner occupied residence • Data from the American Community Survey (conducted annually). Available every year in one-year files (for the largest communities); in three year files (for medium-sized communities) and in five year files (for small communities)

9. Plymouth Town: 2010 Census Living arrangements among people aged 65+ Owner occupancy for householders age 60+

10. Age composition Age distribution of Smithville senior center participants Age distribution of “Smithville”

11. Learning more about your residents’ needs Median household income in Worcester % disabled (age 65+)

12. Conducting a survey • Question Construction • Length • Sampling • Online v. mail v. phone

13. Focus groups • Planning & Recruitment • Facilitator’s role • Questions

14. Key informant interviews • Selection of key informants • Structure of the interviews • Questions • “Do you think your department works well with the Council on Aging?” • This prompts the person to consider the idea that maybe they don’t work well with the COA. • “Tell me about your department’s relationship with the Council on Aging?” • This questions allows the person to tell you all of the information about the relationship with no implied bias

15. Post-Assessment: analysis • Response rate • Analysis Basics • Qualitative • Quantitative • Triangulation

16. Post-Assessment: dissemination • Dissemination of results: • Final report • News article • Fact sheet

17. Research Partnerships: • Identify partners • How can they help? Things to keep in mind: • Confirm the research entity as a credible organization. • Determine how this research will support both your organization and the research institution’s missions. • Identify unique resources and agree upon which partners are responsible for providing which resources (e.g., financial, human capital, dissemination) • Understand what is ethical and legal

18. Helpful Hints: • Be clear about the PURPOSE of your assessment • Have a detailed timeline and roadmap of the process • Build in extra time • Create awareness in the community • Consider research partners • Determine appropriate sources of data • Stay realistic • NEED versus WANT

19. Available Resources: • Kreuger & Casey (2009). Focus Groups: A Practical Guide for Applied Research (4th ed.), Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. • Witkin, B. R., & Altschuld, J. W., (1995). Planning and conducting needs assessments: A practical guide. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications

20. Thank you! Jan Mutchler: jan.mutchler@umb.eduCaitlin Coyle caitlin.coyle001@umb.edu Hayley Gravette, hayley.gravette001@umb.edu http://www.umb.edu/academics/mgs/gerontology/