Needs Assessment in Public Health: A Practical Guide for Students and Professionals

By Donna J. Petersen and Greg R. Alexander

This volume is for students and practitioners interested in improving their understanding and skills in the area of needs assessment. The text follows the typical sequence of an actual needs assessment process. Case studies are used to illustrate conceptualization of the task through the application of needs-based data to effective public health solutions. Examples are drawn from myriad public health efforts, recognizing that not all public health sector agencies bear direct responsibility for all activities that could be considered part of public health.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Springer
• Release date: May 8, 2007
• ISBN: 9780306476105

Book preview

1

The Context for Needs Assessment

Past, Present, and Future

Introduction

Public health is an interesting creature. While public health embodies a set of activities critical to the healthy development and quality of life of people around the world, the term public health is poorly understood. Few may fully appreciate the effort required to undertake its responsibilities.

A 1995 Harris Poll confirmed what many in public health already believed: The general public does not know what public health is (Taylor, 1997). Notwithstanding, they do know and care deeply about some of the things it does. The reasons for the incongruous public view of public health are difficult to discern and remain open to debate. The unique history of the development of private medicine in the United States may partially underlie the current public opinion on the role and importance of public health, along with our nation’s ongoing mixed feelings about the role of government in health care matters.

In 1988, the Institute of Medicine defined public health as creating those conditions in which people can be healthy in order to advance society’s collective interest in promoting and preserving good health (IOM, 1988). This societal interest is best served if:

The air, food, and water supply remain safe.

The medical care system functions efficiently and effectively.

Communities work together to support the optimal growth and development of all children and families and promote quality of life across the life span.

Workplaces, schools, and recreation sites are safe.

People engage in healthy lifestyle choices that prolong a high-quality life.

Appropriate and necessary services and supports are designed and maintained to meet community and individual needs for physical, mental, and spiritual health.

The Institute of Medicine’s phrase creating those conditions in which people can be healthy is another way of saying doing whatever it takes to prevent unnecessary disease, disability, or premature death. Because of public health’s emphasis on prevention, it is virtually invisible when it is most successful in performing its duties and achieving its goals. When water and food are safe to consume, the air is clean, sewage is treated, and people are relatively free of disease, it is easy for the public to forget that these blessings just don’t happen. Instead, they are the products of the ongoing endeavors of the many disciplines of public health.

In recent years, public health has engaged in broader efforts to promote health beyond the prevention of disease. This is consistent with the World Health Organization definition of health as a complete state of physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Whether focused on the prevention of disease or the promotion of health at the individual, institutional, or community level, the mission of public health requires many people from multiple disciplines working together toward a set of agreed upon health goals. This in turn depends on a well-articulated set of objectives toward which resources can be directed and success monitored. The determination of public health objectives, which the public and policymakers view as obtainable, realistic, and important, ultimately depends on the availability of empirical data to support decision-making. For needs assessment, data and opinions are used in a process that establishes a public consensus regarding the current public health concerns and priorities, as well as the most cost-effective strategies to address