Population Centered Health in the Community

Signature Assignment: Community Assessment Paper Instructions, Guidelines, s Grading Rubric
The assignment is designed to help you accomplish the following COs: 1, 4, s 5

A Signature Assignment is designated for each course and is placed near or at the end of an academic term. This assignment carries the most weighted value when determining a student’s final course grade. The student must earn a minimum of 78% on the Signature Assignment. This means that a student with an overall passing grade can still fail the course if the Signature Assignment is assessed at less than a weighted value of 78%.
The Community Assessment is worth 100 points and is 40% of the final course grade.

Purpose of the Community Assessment Assignment:
Community health nursing recognizes the community as a client. Thus, the practice of community health nursing is based on the assessment of the community. From this assessment, the nurse identifies health problems of significance to the community. You may use your Windshield Survey as the basis for assessment, gathering data about the community you have chosen to assess. This assessment will provide you with a holistic understanding of the health status, strengths, challenges, and priorities within a chosen community. By synthesizing information from various sources, you will be better equipped to develop evidence-based strategies and interventions to improve community health outcomes.

For this assignment, you will 1) conduct an in-depth assessment of a community, 2) identify, explore, and evaluate available community resources, 3) develop an appropriate and realistic plan of care targeted at addressing an identified health problem, and 4) identify evaluative measures.

Instructions:
Read the Community Assessment Grading Rubric provided below. Pay close attention to the Epidemiologic Model (pp. 233-238) in your textbook.
Please follow the guidelines and rubric attached.
Write a formal report, using APA 7th edition format. This should be written as a paper, not as a QCA based on questions or rubric sections. Create a visual image in your reader’s mind of the community you are describing. Submit your paper via Canvas by the due date.

POTENTIAL RESOURCES:
• United States Census Bureau: https://www.census.gov/
• Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (state health statistics): http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr
• National Center for Health Statistics: http://cdc.gov/nchs
• Healthy People 2030: http://www.healthypeople.gov
• State Health Facts Online (Kaiser Family Foundation): http://www.statehealthfacts.kff.org

Note: Communication is an integral part of a professional career. In an effort to promote better written communication skills, students are strongly urged to seek assistance from the NKU Writing Center. https://inside.nku.edu/plus/tutoring/wc.html

Guidelines for Community Assessment Paper

1. Introduction:
   Begin by introducing the purpose of the community assessment assignment. Explain that the goal is to analyze a specific community’s health needs and develop an intervention plan to address identified issues. Emphasize the importance of understanding community dynamics, resources, and challenges to implement effective interventions.
2. Community Overview:
   Identify the community that you assessed in your Windshield Survey. Provide a general description of the community. Summarize the main findings from your Windshield Survey and demographic assessment:
   • Demographics: who are the people that live there?
   • The environment: what is the appearance and atmosphere of the area?
   • Resources: what services are in evidence?
   • Boundaries: geographic boundaries, geopolitical boundaries such as city or county lines. Be as specific as possible. (2 paragraphs)
3. Health Status and Needs Assessment:
   a. Using reliable sources like local health department reports, government websites, or trusted health publications, collect and analyze relevant data to assess the health status and needs of the community. Include each of the following:
   • Health indicators (e.g., prevalence of chronic diseases, infectious diseases, maternal and child health outcomes)
   • Environmental factors (e.g., pollution levels, access to clean water and sanitation)
   • Socioeconomic determinants of health (e.g., poverty rates, education levels, employment opportunities)
   • Healthcare access and utilization (e.g., availability of healthcare facilities, insurance coverage, barriers to access)
   b. Using reliable sources like local health department reports, government websites, or trusted health publications, identify and list the top four most significant health issues affecting your community (e.g., heart disease, cancer, diabetes). Prioritize these issues based on the collected data and their impact on the community.
   **If data is unavailable for your chosen community, then locate data for the county and/or state. Be sure to cite your source(s).
4. Identifying and Addressing a Critical Health Problem:
   From the top four health issues identified in your community, choose the one you believe is the most critical for the community’s well-being. Review the five key categories of SDOH that influence health and choose one priority SDOH that significantly impacts the chosen health issue. Explain how this SDOH is contributing to the health problem in your community. Be specific and detailed. Lastly, based on the priority health issue and the selected SDOH, create a community health nursing diagnosis. Your diagnosis should focus on the problems or risks affecting the entire community.
   Example:
   Priority health issue: Diabetes
   Selected SDOH Category: Economic Stability
   Economic Stability, particularly low income and unemployment, significantly impacts diabetes in our community. Many residents with low incomes struggle to afford healthy food, medications, and regular medical check-ups. This economic instability leads to poor diabetes management and higher complications rates.
5. Community Health Nursing Diagnosis:
6. Risk of poor diabetes management among low-income residents related to economic instability as evidenced by high rates of uncontrolled blood sugar levels, lack of access to affordable healthy food, and limited access to healthcare services.
7. Intervention Plan
   Suggest an intervention plan for one of the two nursing diagnoses. Be detailed. Community health nursing interventions typically focus on prevention of illness with health promotion interventions. After performing a community assessment, identifying priority problems, and establishing health goals and outcomes, the nurse integrates knowledge of health disorders. This plan must be feasible for a community health nurse and must be supported by evidence-based practice from health literature.
   **2 peer-reviewed journal articles from the previous 5 years must be utilized to describe the plan for intervention. Blogs and websites do not meet this criterion.
   Example: The nurse will provide education and materials regarding evidence-based screening practices for substance use disorders in local clinics.
8. Evaluation Plan:
   Outline a plan to evaluate the effectiveness of the interventions. Define measurable outcomes and indicators to assess progress and impact. Specify evaluation methods and data collection tools. Consider both short-term and long-term evaluation measures to track changes in health outcomes and community behavior.
9. Conclusion:
   Provide a brief conclusion, which is a summary of your paper and experience. Summarize the key findings of the community assessment and the proposed intervention plan. Emphasize the importance of collaboration with community members, healthcare providers, and other stakeholders to promote health equity and improve overall well-being.
10. APA/Writing
    The paper will be written in APA format (7th ed.), using font size 12, one-inch margins, section headings, and page numbers. Section headings from the rubric will be used. Title page, in-text citations, and references are to be correctly formatted. The document should read smoothly as a whole without unnecessary repetition.

Grading Rubric
Introduction (10 points):
• Clearly introduces the purpose of the Community Assessment assignment.
• Explains the goal of analyzing a specific community’s health needs and developing an intervention plan.
• Emphasizes the importance of understanding community dynamics, resources, and challenges.
• Provides a clear and coherent introduction.
Community Overview (15 points):
• Identifies the assessed community and provides a general description.
• Summarizes main findings from the Windshield Survey and demographic assessment.
• Addresses demographics, environment, resources, and boundaries in detail.
Health Status and Needs Assessment (25 points):
• Collects and analyzes relevant data on health status and needs.
• Addresses health indicators, environmental factors, socioeconomic determinants of health, and healthcare access/utilization.
• Incorporates data from the chosen community or county/state if data for the community is unavailable.
• Identifies four key health issues based on data analysis.
• Data analysis is thorough and demonstrates understanding.
Identifying and Addressing a Critical Health Problem (10 points):
• Prioritizes a top health issue according to its impact on community well-being.
• Identifies a priority Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) contributing to the issue.
• Formulates a community health nursing diagnosis based on the SDOH.
• Demonstrates critical thinking and understanding of community health nursing concepts.
Intervention Plan (20 points):
• Suggests an intervention plan for one nursing diagnosis.
• Intervention plan is feasible for a community health nurse.
• Intervention plan is supported by evidence-based practice from peer-reviewed journal articles (not blogs or websites).
• Integrates knowledge of health disorders and promotes prevention of illness with health promotion interventions.
• Provides clear and detailed examples of interventions.
Evaluation Plan (5 points):
• Outlines a plan to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions.
• Defines measurable outcomes and indicators.
• Specifies evaluation methods and data collection tools.
• Considers short-term and long-term evaluation measures.
Conclusion (5 points):
• Provides a brief summary of the paper and experience.
• Summarizes key findings of the community assessment and proposed intervention plan.
• Emphasizes the importance of collaboration with stakeholders.
APA/Writing (10 points):
• Paper is written in APA format.
• Correctly formatted title page, in-text citations, and references.
• Consistent use of section headings from the rubric.
• Smooth and coherent writing without unnecessary repetition.
• Adheres to font size, margins, and other formatting guidelines.