For this assignment, identify an area of focus in community health within your own community.
Using Gordon’s Functional Health Patterns framework (p. 130 in your e-text), assess the health risks in your community.
In your community assessment paper, include the following:
- Identify resources in your community that would enable you to complete a community assessment and submit a summary of your findings (1–2 paragraphs).
- Refer to Table 8-3: Examples of Community Strengths and Concerns, and assess the strengths and concerns of your community (2–3 paragraphs).
- Identify potential barriers to implementing community health plans in your community and brainstorm ways of addressing these barriers (2–3 paragraphs).
Plan ahead: Next week, as Part B of this assignment, you will select one (1) identified risk from this assessment to develop a community-focused strategic plan to address that health risk. It is recommended that you look ahead to next week’s assignment so that you can begin framing your chosen community health focus.
Your paper should be 2–3 pages in length, not including the cover and reference pages. Use APA throughout.
You must include 2–3 sources that are APA cited and referenced in your paper. (Sources may include community resources such as flyers, brochures, interviews, news stories, and local research data from credible sources.)
Expert Solution Preview
Introduction:
Community health is an important aspect of healthcare that focuses on improving the health and well-being of people in a specific community. As a medical professor, one of my tasks is to create assignments and evaluate the performance of medical college students. In this assignment, the students are required to identify an area of focus in community health within their community and assess the health risks using Gordon’s Functional Health Patterns framework.
Answer:
The first step in conducting a community assessment is to identify resources in the community that would enable a comprehensive assessment. These resources may include health clinics, community health centers, hospitals, community-based organizations, and government agencies. Additionally, local research data, interviews, and news stories provide valuable information about the health status of the community.
Using Gordon’s Functional Health Patterns framework, the strengths and concerns of the community can be assessed. Some of the strengths of the community may include access to healthcare facilities, community-based organizations, and government support for health initiatives. On the other hand, some of the concerns of the community may include lack of access to healthcare services, inadequate funding for health initiatives, and poor health literacy among community members.
Potential barriers to implementing community health plans may include lack of funding, inadequate resources, cultural and language differences, and lack of community buy-in. To address these barriers, community stakeholders must be engaged in the planning and implementation of community health initiatives. Additionally, partnerships with local businesses, philanthropic organizations, and government agencies can provide the necessary resources and funding.
In summary, assessing the health risks in a community is an essential component of community health planning. By identifying community resources, assessing community strengths and concerns, and addressing potential barriers to community health initiatives, medical college students can develop effective community-focused strategic plans to improve the health and well-being of their community.
