Completing an individual health needs assessment provides an opportunity to improve health outcomes. It is a comprehensive assessment considering social, economic, cultural, and behavioral factors that influence health. Later in the term, you will actually complete a community health needs assessment, but let’s first start with yourself.
The first stage of the health needs assessment involves gathering information and data. The sources and links outlined in this assignment will provide a breadth of self-perspectives on health and needs necessary for a comprehensive assessment. The different sources of information help to define what might influence your health needs.
The second stage is planning. Once you’ve identified risks, views, perceptions, and experiences, you can prioritize what areas need the most attention – assuming this is something you’re willing and want to address. This will only support the development and implementation of both acute and sustainable interventions congruent with the goal. Identifying and performing action steps is critical in moving to the next stage, which is implementation. There’s no formal end to this as it’s always evolving and adapting.
Finally, there’s the evaluation stage of your efforts, but it also involves reflection on the process. Obviously, it takes evaluation methods to determine if progress is being made. It’s also vital to reflect because if health needs are to remain a priority or be put on hold, you need to consider your position in the context of life (school, work, relationships, family, etc.). This ultimately forces you to re-prioritize and re-assess your health needs, starting another round of the cycle.
Assignment Objectives
- Identify the stages of a health needs assessment.
- Self-assess and prioritize health areas among four health promotion domains.
- Create a plan with intervention(s) and mode(s) of evaluation for achieving a health goal.
- Reflect on mechanical and behavioral processes to identify, initiate, and maintain change.
Assignment Instructions
- Fill in and complete this Assessment of Needs WorksheetDownload Assessment of Needs WorksheetOpen this document with ReadSpeaker docReader
- It will walk you through each health promotion stage to self-assess and evaluate yourself in four domains
- Go through each step, typing in a brief impression of your findings (2-4 sentences) in the provided worksheet boxes
