Community Assessment and Program Planning
What to know
Community assessment blends data sources: windshield surveys, key informant interviews, focus groups, and secondary epidemiologic data. Assess both needs and assets, including congregations, volunteers, clinics, transport, and social networks, because programs built only on deficits rarely sustain. Prioritize using criteria such as prevalence, severity, feasibility, community concern, and available resources. Write SMART objectives (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) and tie them to a logic model: inputs, activities, outputs, and short- and long-term outcomes. Evaluation is designed at the start, not bolted on; measure process (did we deliver it?) and outcome (did anything change?).
Traps
- Confusing an activity ("hold a blood pressure fair") with an objective.
- Sampling only the most vocal members and calling it community input.
- Ignoring sustainability and partner capacity.
- Measuring satisfaction alone and calling it effectiveness.
- Setting a target no one can count or date.
Worked example
Weak: "Improve diabetes in the parish." Strong: "By June 30, 40 adults with diabetes will attend at least three of four self-management sessions, and 75% will report a weekly foot check." Rule of thumb: if you cannot count it and date it, it is not an objective.