Community Assessment Paper Guidelines
N422 Community Assessment Paper Guidelines
Working in groups of 2-4 students
Select a community to be assessed. It can be any community, township, borough etc. If you are choosing Philadelphia, please pick a zipcode (neighborhood) rather than focusing on the city.
A community has three features, location, population, and social systems, and has a relationship among these. The health status of a community involves two interrelated factors: people interacting with each other and people interacting with their environment. Consequently, a community assessment includes:
- a description of the environment,
- the population
- and the identification of health problems in the community.
Document Specifics
- The paper must be written in APA format.
- Any APA questions can be found in the APA blog https://blog.apastyle.org/
- There must be in-text citations to support the ideas presented.
- This paper is to be typewritten in 10 or 12 Times New Roman or Arial font and double-spaced paper.
- Although this is a group paper, it is a single submission meaning the paper must flow as if it was written by one person.
- The paper must be submitted to Safe Assign. Plagiarism will result in a failure for this paper
- The paper should bea maximum of 25 pages.
- Assignment grade will drop 5 points for each day it is late.
- All members of the group must submit the paper into the Blackboard
At the end of the paper, please summarize the process used by the group to demonstrate that all members participated in ALL sections. 10% of the paper grade will be deducted if this is NOT demonstrated.
History of the Community (10%) -Evelina Discuss the background/history of the community
Bristol borough located in the county of Bucks, Pennsylvania, anciently known as “Buckingham”; being the third oldest town and second chartered borough in Pennsylvania, from its earliest times to the present year 1911.
The Windshield Survey: (20%) –Miranda
The group will perform a windshield survey of the community being assessed.
- Discuss what you observed in the ride through the community and the time of day (street names etc.)
- Describe the general appearance of the community, the condition of housing, the presence of stores/services (grocery stores, gas stations etc.) needed by the population.
- Describe the individuals observed (children, adults, young, old, etc.) when the windshield survey was done. Look at different areas of the community (parks, streets, bus/train etc.)
Include the following in the windshield survey:
- Boundaries: natural and man-made
- Location
- Urban vs. suburban vs. rural
- Residential vs. Commercial
- Types of Housing: Single-family, multiple-family units, row homes, apartment
- Condition of housing
- Availability of low- income housing. Median cost of housing
- Renters vs. Homeowners
- Industry and Commercial
- Presence
- Type of industry and/or commercial endeavors
- Community services:
- Recreation facilities; availability of free or low-cost facilities
- Youth Activities
- Parks and Green Spaces
- Transportation
- Safety/ Presence of Crime
- Health resources: availability of MCH, MH
- Educational institutions:
- School district
- Student achievement (test scores)
- Free lunch program
- High school Graduation Rate
- Other educational resources (colleges, trade schools, after school programs)
- Religion
- Types of places of worship
- Food
- Groceries stores (supermarkets, small neighborhood stores, ethnic stores convenience stores)
- Local co-ops, farmers markets, local sustainability gardens
Demographics (15%) -Miranda and Evelina https://censusreporter.org/profiles/06000US4201708768-bristol-township-bucks-county-pa/
General Characteristics of you community
- Demographics: number and distribution by:
Age:
- Median Age: 35
- 11% – 0-9
- 13% – 10-19
- 13% – 20-29
- 13% – 30-39
- 13% – 40-49
- 15% – 50-59
- 12% – 60-69
- 5% – 70-79
- 3% – 80+
Gender:
- 49% – Male
- 51%- Female
Race/ Ethnicity: Minority Group
- 76% – White
- 9% – Black
- 0% – Native
- 3% – Asian
- 0% – Islander
- 0% – Other
- 2% – Two+
- 10% – Hispanic
Stability/mobility
- 4% Moved since previous year (2018)
- 6% From same county
- 2% From different county
- 1% From different state
Educational level
- 8% High school grad or higher
- 1% Bachelor’s degree or higher
Socioeconomic status —
- 2% Persons below poverty line
- Children (Under 18) = Poverty 14%
- Seniors (65 and over) = Poverty 6%
Unemployment rate: https://data.pressconnects.com/unemployment/bristol-township-pa/CS4208768000000/2019-august/
- More than 10%
- 9 – 10%
- 8 – 9%
- 7 – 8%
- 6 – 7%
- 5 – 6%
- 4 – 5%
- 3 – 4%
- Less than 3%
- N/A
Rates: Birth & Deaths: https://www.health.pa.gov/topics/HealthStatistics/VitalStatistics/CountyHealthProfiles/Documents/current/bucks.aspx
Compare these to the next biggest geographical location (i.e. Bensalem compared to Bucks County).
A minimum of 2-5 tables and figures are required to present your data. The significance of the data presented must be represented.
Priority Health Problems : (5%)- Evelina
- List five priority health problems present within the community.
- Water Management
https://www.bristoltownship.org/Storm_Water_Management.cfm
https://www.doylestownborough.net/pages/stormwater
https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/bristol-township-clean-water-act-settlement
https://www.cleanwateraction.org/features/stormwater-pollution
- proposed construction of a hazardous waste incinerator in Bristol Township has drawn opposition from local residents and government officials in Burlington County, N.J.
https://patch.com/pennsylvania/levittown/challenges-building-against-proposed-incinerator
- Gypsy Moth Information https://storage.googleapis.com/dtown/Pages/MOths.pdf?mtime=20181111141811
- CHEM-FAb DOYLESTOWN, PA https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/cursites/csitinfo.cfm?id=0300563
- Drugs
- Homeless shelter
https://www.theintell.com/news/20180713/lower-bucks-has-smog-problem-this-spring-was-worst-in-decade
https://storage.googleapis.com/dtown/Pages/RECOCountyIPM.pdf?mtime=20181201095357&focal=none
https://www.state.nj.us/dep/watershedrestoration/waterbook_chp3.html
- Think outside the box it doesn’t have to be all from the literature, it can be from your windshield survey
The Proposed Interventions (35%)
In this section, the student groups will work together to develop a programthat issuitable to be carried out by nurses to address the problem in the community. Assess to see what programs are in place already for the identified problem. Think UPSTREAM to solve the problem
Proposed a nursing process based strategic plan (demonstrating assessment, planning, intervention and evaluation for two priority problems/issuesutilizing Healthy People concepts, levels of prevention, a nursing journal article for each problem (<5 yrs old and cited/referenced) and statistical data.
- Describe specifics interventions of the program; include who will provide what interventions over what time frame. If education is part of the intervention, give specifics as to the information to be provided, who will provide the education, what methods will be used and how learning will be evaluated.
- Identify if the interventions are at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels of prevention.
The chosen interventions must
- be specific to the problem
- be reasonable and appropriate for a nurse to carry out;
- reflect consideration and application of the various nursing roles.
Evaluation the effectiveness of these program? (5%)
- Identify the criteria you would use
- If your interventions were successful, what outcomes would you expect?
References
Bristol Cultural & Historical Foundation. http://www.bristolhistory.org/.
Http://www.bristoltownship.org/poi.cfm. (n.d.). Retrieved October 23, 2020, from http://www.bristoltownship.org/poi.cfm
