What is a Needs Assessment
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Transcript What is a Needs Assessment
An introduction
By Jacob Coverstone
[email protected]
I have no financial interest to disclose.
Objectives
Attendees will be able to:
Define Needs Assessment
Create and utilize an outline for conducting a
Needs Assessment
Understand types of identified needs
Normative
Relative
Expressed
Perceived
When do you conduct a Needs
Assessment?
A Needs Assessment takes place before the activity is
designed.
Why do you conduct a Needs
Assessment?
The purpose of a Needs Assessment is to make
decisions regarding priorities for the program.
If you conduct a proper Needs Assessment, you will
address or support 9 of the 22 Updated Criteria and 3
of 7 Essential Elements [C2, C3, C4, C6, C16, C18, C19,
C21, C22, E2.1, E2.2, E2.3]
Needs Assessments are about
Evidence
Can you answer:
“what evidence do we have that our audience needs this
education?”
“what evidence do we have that our solution will yield
positive results?”
“what is the reason that we are offering education in this
format?”
“It depends on what the meaning of
the word 'is' is” – Former President Bill Clinton
Definitions 1:
Gap
Need
Want
Assessment
Needs Assessment
Definitions 1
• Gaps
– The space between what currently exists and what
should exist.
• Needs are contributing factors
– What needs to be resolved to help close a gap.
– Needs often relate to barriers
• Wants are possible solutions
– A proposed means to filling the gap.
• Assessment is the evaluation of needs, barriers and
resources.
Definitions 1, continued.
Needs Assessment is the process of identifying and
measuring areas for improvement in a target audience,
and determining the methods to achieve
improvement.
So important,
it has its own
slide.
What goes into a Needs
Assessment?
Normative data
Evaluations
Objectives
Opinion
Timelines
Barriers
Resources
“What does it take
to get your activity
off the ground?”
So… what is a Needs Assessment?
Pre-Assessment
Assessment
Action Plan
Needs
Assessment
Phases of a Needs Assessment
Pre-Assessment
Data collection. “What do we know?”
This is the foundation of Gap Analysis
What is the current state?
Where should we be?
How does our region compare to others?
What’s new?
What’s important?
Phases of a Needs Assessment
• Assessment
–
Evaluation of the data
• What are our barriers?
Both internal and external
What Needs have we identified?
Are some gaps bigger than others?
–
•
•
–
•
•
•
Consider both scope and severity
What are our priorities?
Do we have the resources to address them?
Why do anything at all?
Phases of a Needs Assessment
• Action Plan
–
How are we going to translate what we have
into what they need?
•
•
Which Needs can we address?
How are we overcoming barriers?
–
•
List additional barriers hindering progress
Have any areas been identified for follow-up or
future opportunities for educational intervention?
Gathering Data
Search for objective measures:
Scope: How many, or what percent, of patients are
exposed/vulnerable/expected to suffer from…
Severity: What are the consequences?
Discomfort? Pain? Blindness?
Are there national standards for treatment?
Can we do better?
Assessment, an example:
“It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a
pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing
sunglasses.”
- Elwood Blues, The Blues Brothers
It's not what you know, it's how
you know it.
Needs (gaps) are identified in 4 ways:
Types of Need
Normative
Relative
Expressed
Perceived
Types of Need
Normative
Defined as falling below a standard criterion established
by custom, authority, or general consensus.
Strength:
Allows planners to use objective targets
Weakness:
Need levels change with time and must be re-evaluated
Types of Need, cont.
Relative
Measured by the gap between the level of service
between similar communities
Strength:
Can lead to a priority for distribution of limited resources
Weakness:
Limits resource allocation to under-performing areas
Types of Need, cont.
Expressed
Defined in terms of the number of people who actually
have sought help
Strength:
Focuses on situations where people have taken action
Helps to determine barriers
Weakness:
Not all people with Needs seek help
Loss of the bigger picture
Misses latent Needs
Types of Need, cont.
Perceived
Defined in terms of what people think their needs are or
feel their needs to be
Strength:
Easy to come by
Weakness:
Subjective
Subject to the Dunning-Kruger effect
Problems must be translated into
Needs
Strive to answer all 4 types of Need.
Each type of need paints a different picture of the gap.
Needs are translated into
Objectives
But that’s another talk…
Remember
Want and Need are not synonyms.
A Needs Assessment is conducted before the activity is
planned.
Pre-Assessment is not enough.
The more types of need you consider, the richer the
planning process and the more effective the education.
“What gets measured gets managed” – Peter Drucker.