Community Needs Assessment for Charters Towers

This assignment involves conducting a community needs assessment for Charters Towers, focusing on health needs. You'll analyze data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics Census, along with relevant research papers on various aspects of healthcare assessments, such as those by Pennel et al., Reisner et al., and Wakerman et al. Your task is to identify gaps in healthcare services, propose strategies for improvement, and create a comprehensive report.

Community assessment

Table of Contents
PART B............................................................................................................................................1
2 Introducing Task and thesis statement.....................................................................................1
3 Concept and purpose of community assessment......................................................................1
4 Key characteristics of Charters Towers communities..............................................................2
5 Three social determinants of health in relation to Charters Towers community.....................3
6 Discussing community needs assessments ..............................................................................3
7 Summarising tasks covered in assignment...............................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

PART B
2 Introducing Task and thesis statement
The process of determining the expectations, strengths, assess and issues of specific
community in the area is known as community assessment. Here, assets refers to skills, talent
and competencies of the individuals as well as the resources that local institutions contribute to
the community (Community Assessment. 2018). It involves an evaluation of community by
analysing the current situation, determining the desired situation that will be more preferable for
the community and comparing actual and desired situation for the purpose of prioritising
concerns. In accordance with this context, the essay will demonstrate the importance of
community assessment in order to identify and analyse the needs of different communities. Here,
the communities residing in Charters Tower, Queensland, Australia will be analyse. In this
context, the concept of community assessment and its motives of community assessment will be
discussed in the essay. The key characteristic of the community residing Charters Tower will be
described. The three social determinants of health in relation to the community data and
identification of vulnerable community subgroup that posses some health issue. The need of
community assessment will be discussed and eventually synopsis of the essay will be provided
that demonstrates the understanding developed in the whole essay. In order to assess the
community needs and expectations, to identify the strengths and issues, to determine the skills,
knowledge and competencies, it is very important to conduct community assessment.
3 Concept and purpose of community assessment
According to Laidlaw and et.al., (2018) sometimes community assessment is referred as
need assessment. There is broad distinction between two terminologies. Needs assessments
covers limited areas which begins from what is and ends to what should be given to the
community. In contrast to it, community assessment seeks to empower community members by
allowing them to take ownership in affecting health of their community instead of providing
them with a prescription of what their community needs. As per TACOMA, (2016) community
assessment is conducted with the motive to analyse and determine the needs of particular
community residing in specific locations. The assessor identifies numerous determinants that
helps government and authorities to provide precise services in the area that reduces the issues
and challenges faced by the particular group. Trainer, Trick and Cochlan, (2016) said that it is
undertaken with the purpose to gain insight into a specific group of people and determines their
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concern. In order to conduct a successful community assessment, the assessor needs to take input
from multiple stakeholder and he or she should planned it precisely in order to achieve the aim
and objectives efficiently. Coats and et.al., (2017) states the purpose of community assessment
and state that the motive of assessment is to establish a coalition action plan, create objective for
a intervention, formulate strategies which will be applied in interventions, evaluating the
progress and generating new ideas, plans, partners and resources that can be utilised towards
accomplishing common goals. Pennel and et.al., (2015) demonstrates the process of community
assessments and classified it into eight step process. The first step of the process is to identify the
purpose of community assessment, the second step is defining goals, third step is to determining
data collection method and process, fourth step is analysing data, fifth step is pilot test, sixth is
preparing timeline and budget, seventh is preparing and disseminating report, and last step is to
evaluate the report.
4 Key characteristics of Charters Towers communities
Charters Towers is a town located at Northern Queensland, Australia. The key
characteristic of the town is that 10.9% of total population living in the town is Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander people, 4 per cent population are Australian born people and 2.8 per cent
are non Australian born people. The population of Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander
people within Charters Towers may be associated with the spirituality of the land and the social
connectedness of the community around them (Wakerman and et.al., 2017). The high rate of the
population aged between 0-14 years indicates that there may be a cultural factor that is
contributing to the reproduction of more children. Along with the lack of health literacy
regarding contraception. In relation to the increased percentage of the older generation, there
may be a shift from individuals living in rural Queensland and coming into a town for Aged Care
Facilitations and Healthcare Access. The lowered level of education, in comparison to the
national and state average, may be due to a lack of access to further education, lack of transport,
lack of resources and/or lack of knowledge. Furthermore, the increased number of people leaving
before Year 9 may be due to cultural norms, lack of motivation, needs to work or unfamiliarity
regarding the importance of an education. 83.3% of the population of Charters Towers were born
in Australia, compared to the state average of 71.1% or the national average of 66.7% (2016
Census QuickStats. 2018). The higher level of Australian-born may indicate a population that is
more familiar with the Australian structure and healthcare system. Of the Charters Towers
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population, 10.7% are unemployed, whilst the national average is only 6.9%. The increased
unemployment levels within Charters Towers may be linked to lowered education, lack of
employment opportunities.
5 Three social determinants of health in relation to Charters Towers community
The condition in environment that influences the people who born, live and do their daily
life routines in the particular area or locality are the social determinants of health (Reisner and
et.al., 2016). It includes, economic stability, health and health care, education, neighbourhood
and social community context.
Education in Charters Tower
Within Australia, 46.6% (and QLD at 45.2%) of the population completed further studies
after the completion of Year 12, whilst the percent of people within Charters Towers who
completed further studies is only 30.9%. Furthermore, the amount of Australian’s who complete
Year 9 or Below is 8.0% (QLD – 7.3%), whilst 15.1% of the population in Charters Towers do
not further their education past Year 9 or Below. Due to lack of transport facility available in the
region and lowered health literacy many people were unable to acquired higher education degree.
ATSI community were more vulnerable to acquire higher education in Charters Town
(TACOMA, 2016).
Economic Stability:
The average household weekly income in Charters Towers is $1,040, in comparison to the QLD
average of $1,402 and Australian average of $1,438 (Charters Towers (R) (LGA) (32310). 2018).
The lowered income could contribute to the level of health. ATSI community were more
vulnerable as they have very few people who have adequate level of income (Wong, Bartlett and
Saini, 2017).
Health and Healthcare
From the analysis, it was identified that there are only few hospitals in the area which impacts on
the people who want to have health care services. Due to lowered health literacy, the community
of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suffered mostly (Laidlaw and et.al., 2018).
6 Discussing community needs assessments
The process of analysing the needs, expectations and issues faced by particular
community is considered as the community need assessment process. In order to engage with the
communities in Charters Town, I will firstly prepare a plan which states the purpose of need
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assessment. After that in the second step, goals and objectives will be establish and I will interact
with vulnerable group which is communities of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. With
empirical studies and effective communication skills, I will attempt to provide precise and brief
information about the impacts of not getting health care treatments. Furthermore, if health care
centre or hospitals are distant from their reach, an appeal to establish new health care centre
nearby their area will be made. I will than collect data and analyse it thoroughly in order to
generate meaningful information. Eventually, I will prepare and disseminate the report and
evaluate in order to identify any errors.
7 Summarising tasks covered in assignment
From the above essay, it can be concluded that community assessment is conducted with
the motive to analyse and determine the needs of particular community residing in specific
locations. The assessor identifies numerous determinants that helps government and authorities
to provide precise services in the area that reduces the issues and challenges faced by the
particular group. In contrast to this, concept and purpose of community assessment has been
made in the essay. The key characteristic of the community that resides in the Charters Towers
has been described. The key characteristic of the town is that 10.9% of total population living in
the town is Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, 4 per cent population are Australian
born people and 2.8 per cent are non Australian born people. The three social determinants of
health which were Education, Economic Stability and Healthcare has been assessed and
vulnerable group which was ATSI community has been identified. The average household
weekly income in Charters Towers is $1,040, in comparison to the QLD average of $1,402 and
Australian average of $1,438. Furthermore, the community needs assessment has been made in
which identification of vulnerable community and exploration of their health issues has been
discussed.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Coats, H., & et.al. (2017). A community needs assessment for the development of an
interprofessional palliative care training curriculum. Journal of palliative medicine, 20(3),
235-240. Retrieved from http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/jpm.2016.0321
Laidlaw, M. A., & et.al. (2018). Assessment of soil metal concentrations in residential and
community vegetable gardens in Melbourne, Australia. Chemosphere. Retrieved from
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0045653518302467
Pennel, C. L., & et.al. (2015). Nonprofit hospitals’ approach to community health needs
assessment. American journal of public health, 105(3), e103-e113.Retrieved from
http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2014.302286
Reisner, S. L., & et.al. (2016). Global health burden and needs of transgender populations: a
review. The Lancet, 388(10042), 412-436. Retrieved from
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014067361600684X
TACOMA, C. O. (2016). Community Needs Assessment. Retrieved from
http://cms.cityoftacoma.org/NCS/HSD/Homelessnessservices/TacomaCommunityNeedsA
ssessmentAug2016.pdf
Trainer, V. L., Trick, C. G., & Cochlan, W. P. (2016). A community needs assessment for
coastal Guatemala-Balancing ocean and human health. PICES Press, 24(2), 28. Retrieved
from http://search.proquest.com/openview/15122304dea38ea2a3ce29a170d3eb5f/1?pq-
origsite=gscholar&cbl=666306
Wakerman, J., & et.al. (2017). A systematic review of primary health care delivery models in
rural and remote Australia 1993-2006. Retrieved from https://openresearch-
repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/119218
Wong, K., Bartlett, D. J., & Saini, B. (2017). Integrated primary care insomnia management in
Australia. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy. Retrieved from
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1551741116305666
Online
2016 Census QuickStats. 2018 [Online]. Available
through:<http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/
quickstat/LGA32310>
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Charters Towers (R) (LGA) (32310). 2018. [Online]. Available
through:<http://stat.abs.gov.au/itt/r.jsp?
RegionSummary&region=32310&dataset=ABS_REGIONAL_LGA&geoconcept=REGIO
N&datasetASGS=ABS_REGIONAL_ASGS&datasetLGA=ABS_NRP9_LGA&regionLG
A=REGION&regionASGS=REGION>
Community Assessment. 2018 [Online]. Available
through:<https://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/CDFS-7>
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