250409 Identifying the health care needs of women in a community by using gender analysis

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Kristi Lewis, PhD, MPH, CPH , Department of Health Sciences/CISAT, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA
The Healthy Community Council (HCC) is a community-based organization with the mission to increase the quality of life in the community. Members of the HCC recently conducted a community needs assessment using a cross-sectional study design. Of the 2,000 Non-English assessment instruments mailed, 750 assessments were returned for a response rate of 38% (sampling error = 3%). For the Hispanic population, telephone interviews resulted in 205 completed assessments (sampling error = 7%). The data was analyzed to identify the needs of women in the community. Gender analysis techniques were also utilized to evaluate the assessment data. Hispanic women self-reported their health as poor (19.6%) more so than non-Hispanic women (0.7%). Both Hispanic and non-Hispanic women reported difficulties obtaining needed health care above the Healthy People 2020 of 4.2%. Approximately 14.2% of Hispanic women and 5.2% of non-Hispanic women reported that they experienced difficulties when obtaining needed health care.

Data from the HCC assessment revealed that women in the community have some unique needs, especially among the Hispanic population. This information will help health care professionals plan and better provide needed services within the community. Social service organizations such as the health department, can also evaluate the services most needed for various populations within the community. As the financial strains continue to increase for many health and social service providers, the assessment data is essential in identifying and prioritizing the services needed for many of the subpopulations within the community.

Learning Areas:
Administration, management, leadership
Assessment of individual and community needs for health education
Program planning
Provision of health care to the public
Public health administration or related administration

Learning Objectives:
1. Discuss the principles of gender analysis and how it applies to health care administration. 2. Identify the components of a community needs assessment that provide important data on access to health care. 3. Describe the process of identifying community-specific priorities around needed health care services within a community.

Keywords: Community Planning, Community Health Assessment

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree. I have over ten years of experience in public health and teach at the university level.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.