Needs Assessment in Public Health of School-Going Youth in the City of Melton

Introduction
In broad terms, an obese person is one who has excess amount of body fat in his/her body.
Obesity is a risk factor for a range of adverse health complications. It is also regarded as a public
health issue worldwide. Nearly 1.9 billion adults either come under the category of overweight or
obese (World Health Organisation, 2017). The prevalence of overweight and obesity in
Australia, is also regarded as a chief public health concern (AIHW, 2017). Government of
Australia categorises the Australian youth as obese (aph.gov.au, 2018). The assignment is on
Needs Assessment in public health of school-going youth in the City of Melton who are either
categorised under overweight or obesity. An assessment of different types of
needs (normative, expressed, comparative, felt, etc.) is conducted and prioritisation of findings is
done. All the potential barriers for the needs assessment and ways to address them are also
discussed. Next, a SWOT analysis, of the proposed program is mentioned.
Methods used for Community Needs Assessment
Overview of Framework
Community needs assessment is done using a framework which has three elements; stakeholder
analysis, community profile, and community consultation. All the three elements are integrated
to inform the community and encourage engagement in collecting data and creating a program
plan.
Stakeholder analysis
For the purpose of consultation key stakeholders are identified which are principals and teachers
of schools, parents, the school-going children, and Government and Private Agencies. These
stakeholders are consulted so that significant insight can be gained into the concerns which
contribute towards the problem and gain their support for the proposed program. The key
stakeholders and their roles are enlisted in Table 1.
Table 1 Stakeholder Analysis
Stakeholders Roles
Government Bodies: Federal Government The Federal and State government bodies

of Australia, State Government of City of
Melton, Department of Education, National
Primary Health Care Development Agency
and other local support agencies
can help in collection of data for the
proposed plan. In addition, the government
bodies at different level can aid the
implementation of the plan at all the levels.
WHO, UNICEF, Public and Private School
Authorities and community unions
Collaboration can be done so that most
current data can be gathered as well as for
resource mobilization and sharing results of
the plan.
People and communities Target group which is the school going
children will come under this group along
with the surroundings which directly or
indirectly influence them. So, parents and
teachers will also be included in the key
stakeholders.
Health promotion services Their role is to provide information and
implement the plan effectively.
Community Profile
The community profiling assists in setting milestones, identifying research gaps, explaining the
context and recognising the key stakeholders. The basic components of the community profile
involve the people, place, community settings and current services. Since the target of this
program is high prevalence of obesity among school going children, it is preferred that a mixed
method approach is used for profiling the community. So, qualitative research methods that will
be used are observations, focus groups, interviews and community forums. The quantitative
research methods that will be used are current demographic and census statistics to find out the
people, place and current services to identify the needs of the community.
Table 2 Community profile

Data type Type of
needs
Research
Methods
Data source
People
(School-going
children)
Demographics: age,
religion, grade of
education,
socioeconomic status,
health status, health and
related service
consumption, eating
habits, obesity
awareness
Comparative
and
expressed
needs
Secondary
Data and
Community
forum
AIHW, data
from school
and hospital,
community
interview,
health
statistics,
restaurants
survey
Place
(City of
Melton,
Australia)
Community layout,
household, school and
community amenities
Felt,
Normative
and
Comparative
needs
Observations,
local
governments,
health
workers,
Focus groups,
interviews,
Community
forum and
Literature
appraisal
AIHW, ,
Interviews
with local
school
members and
health
workers, ABS
and literature
search
Community
organisations
Schools, health clinics,
health promotion
programs and
interventions and
market structure.
Felt needs Focus groups,
interviews,
participant
observation
and
community
forum
Local
governments,
community
interviews,
interventions
audits and
surveys