Needs Assessment: A Case Study

As noted in the introduction to health education course, the first and most important step in developing an effective health education program is to conduct a needs assessment (McKenzie, Neiger, & Thackeray, 2013). The needs assessment is a process by which the needs of a certain population are identified, studied, and prioritized based on criticality. The needs assessment has six steps. This discussion post will elaborate on the six steps and also discuss how health educators can take advantage of resources to assist the communities.
The first step in a needs assessment is quite similar to the scientific research model which is to formulate a hypothesis. According to McKenzie, Neiger, & Thackeray (2013), the first step of the needs assessment is to identify the goal or purpose of the assessment. …show more content…
What problem are you attempting to solve? When the goal/purpose has been identified, you should be thinking about how extensive the needs assessment is going to be and what resources will you have or need in order to successfully complete the assessment. The second step is data collection. Since your population was identified in the first step; the next step consists of gathering information from said population. Data collection can be primary (surveys, meetings, direct observation, etc.) or secondary (government records, journals, geographic/census data, etc). The third step of the needs assessment entails analyzing the data that was collected. Data collection be analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively; it just depends on how the information will be presented and what purpose of the research is. Analyzing the data allows for problem areas to be categorized by immediate necessity. Using the socioecological model in step four helps to identify risk factors related to problem area(s).