Community assessment

[Extract] Community assessment is the first step in establishing a health promotion program and health promotion activities. The purpose of assessing a community's health status is to identify influential factors (both positive and and negative) in order to develop strategies for health promotion. As Hancock and Minkler point out, 'For health professionals concerned with ... community building for health, there are two reasons for (conducting) community health assessments: information is needed for change, and it is needed for empowerment' (1997, p.140) (see Chapter 6). This chapter provides a framework for undertaking a community assessment, using two of the models discussed in the previous chapter, the community-as-partner model and Battye's model of environmental scanning (or Battye's environmental scan). A series of moethods for generating and collecting data about and with a community are discussed