Appraisal of Proposals

See Attached. 

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Community Needs Assessment

Tierainie C. Johnson

Capella University

Program Development and Evaluation In HS

Professor Kelly White

October

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Community Needs Assessment

Introduction

Social problem defines notable behavior condition, presenting negative outcomes and consequences to a significant number of people, and is recognized as a problem that requires redress for an effective solution (Chambers and Bonk, 2013). As a community health expert and professional a consideration of a social problem are critical to accommodating identification, assessment, management, and control towards a notable goal of possessing positive implications for the overall population. Substance and drug abuse is one notable social problem with negative implications and consequences for a significant number of individuals in a community. According to the authors, there is significant National survey data that describes the impacts of substance and drug abuse in the USA (McLellan, 2017). In this case, there is specific attention to drug abuse among adolescents in California State, accommodating effective data for assessment to provide the critical framework in addressing the unmet community needs in managing drug abuse among youths. According to California Health Care Almanac, there is an increasing number of young with substance abuse and mental disorder. Similarly, key findings indicate that there is a serious emotional disturbance among youth and adolescents due to substance-related problems with one in eight teens reporting a major depressive episode in 201

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–2015, up from one in 11 in 2011–2012. Similarly, 9% of adolescents of age between 12 and 17 reported the use of a substance such as alcohol (California Health Care Almanac, 2018). Admittedly, substance and drug abuse among youths and adolescents in California is an issue that requires effective community assessment to provide an effective platform for managing the case and providing an improvement in the community. Thus, providing effective attention to drug and substance abuse as a social problem among adolescents and youths is critical in Community Needs Assessment and improvements.

Community needs assessment steps

Assessing needs in a community is a systematic process that requires stepwise planning and process for effective social problem identification, assessment, management, and control to achieve desirable results. In the need assessment, there are notable steps in planning and conducting the social problem assessment including defining the community, identifying assets and resources, collecting community data, and

creating an action plan

from the existing data for effective community social problem change and management.

In defining the community, the need assessment program will accommodate the population, attitudes and values, and significant place. Fundamentally, the need assessment resonates with California adolescents and youths as a significant population to assess the unmet condition in drug and substance abuse among youths. Consequently, defining the assessment in the planning and conducting the need assessment will encapsulate people, organization, location, and equipment. Fundamentally, the concern of drug and substance abuse needs to accommodate professionals such as community health workers, the population, healthcare facilities and organizations, locations such as health centers, and equipment and tools to improve people’s lives such as technology and medications. In the planning and conducting of the program, accommodating assets and personnel will determine the success and efficiency of the program’s performance and outcomes. After identifying the assets and definition of the community social problem, there will be a need to collect data from the community concerning drug abuse and possible prevention techniques. Particularly, the model will embrace Interviews, focus groups, and surveys in understanding perceived and expressed community needs and the social problem. Finally, the model will provide a platform for creating an action plan to establish policies and change that will provide a platform for solving and managing the unmet social condition and possible suggestions for life improvement in the community. Thus, the framework model for community needs assessment will constitute defining the community, identifying assets and resources, collecting community data, and creating an action plan.

Cultural sensibility, ethics, diversity, and inclusion

Conducting a needs assessment is a crucial need to accommodate the community; population and place diversity to acknowledge ethics, inclusion, and cultural sensitivity. According to the authors, community needs assessment accommodates significant presentation on population diversity, cultural sensitivity, and ethics for a comprehensive articulation of needs that resonates with the population’s critical values (López et al. 2017). Specifically, the program will accommodate specific attention to measurement considerations to a diverse population, and accommodate beliefs, values, and concerns on drug and substance abuse among adolescents and youths in California. Noteworthy, the program in need assessment will accommodate specific interventions for diverse populations resonating with their beliefs, values, and perception on the issue of drug and substance abuse. Moreover, the program accommodates specific strategies such as diversity lens collaboration and workforce diversity to ensure that diverse communities within the locations accommodate and resonate with culturally sensitive beliefs. Finally, the needs assessment in the community will accommodate privacy, integrity, and respect for autonomy as critical ethical issues in the community needs assessment.

Result Projection

Several kinds of literature have accommodated critical research and studies on the need to provide a strategic community needs assessment for early, prevention, intervention, and management of drugs and substances within a population. According to the authors, early intervention and management of substance abuse and related social problem provide positive and moderate drug and substance abuse among the population (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2016). Additionally, the research to investigate race and gender disparity in self-report and drug addiction is an issue of concern whereby African-American adolescents have less exposure to self-reporting than the White adolescence in the USA (Johnson et al. 2022). Furthermore, studies indicate that planning drug abuse prevention at community levels, and applying strategic community-based needs and programs posit a bidirectional relationship between positive behavior change and community health performance. Therefore, the findings resonate with the community needs assessment goals, and project the outcomes of a positive behavior change within the California Community, particularly on adolescents and youths.

Logic Model

References

California Health Care Almanac (2018). Mental Health and Substance Use: A Crisis for California’s Youth.
California Healthcare Foundation .https://www.chcf.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/AlmanacMentalHealthSUDYouth

Chambers, D., and Bonk, J. (2013).
Social Policy and Social Programs: A Method for the Practical Public Policy Analyst, (6th Edition). ‎ Pearson

Deelen, A., Tomaszewski, R., Hager, K., Chen, N., & Palombi, L. (2022). Relentless Stigma: A Qualitative Analysis of a Substance Use Recovery Needs Assessment. Substance Abuse: Research and Treatment, 16(2022).

https://doi.org/10.1177/11782218221097396

Johnson, M.E., Lloyd, S.L., Bristol, S.C. et al. (2022). Black girls and referrals: racial and gender disparities in self-reported referral to substance use disorder assessment among justice-involved children. 
Subst Abuse Treat Prev Policy 17, 68 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13011-022-00462-6

López, M., Hofer, K., Bumgarner, E., & Taylor, D. (2017). Developing Culturally Responsive Approaches to Serving Diverse Populations: A Resource Guide for Community-Based Organizations. National Research Center on Hispanic Children and Families. https://www.nsvrc.org/sites/default/files/2017-06/cultural-competence-guide

McLellan, T. (2017). Substance Misuse and Substance Use Disorders: Why do they Matter in Healthcare?
Trans Am Clin Climatol Assoc. 2017; 128:112-130.

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (2016). FACING ADDICTION IN AMERICA The Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK424857/pdf/Bookshelf_NBK424857

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Defining the community

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Identifying assets and resources

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collecting community data

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creating an action plan