Warning:

This document is being maintained for historical purposes, but is now out of date. To view current guidelines please visit:

• HIV/AIDS Guidelines and Recommendations   at http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/guidelines/index.html

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Guidelines for Health Education and Risk Reduction Activities

April 1995
                
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Atlanta, Georgia

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                        Community Needs Assessment

The HIV prevention community planning process requires an assessment of HIV
prevention needs based on a variety of sources and different assessment
strategies.  This assessment serves as the basis for the development of a
comprehensive HIV prevention plan.  In addition, more targeted needs
assessment may be needed for effective health education program planning
for health departments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).  Tailored
needs assessments enable the program planner to make informed decisions
about the adequacy, availability, and effectiveness of specific services
that are available to the target audience.

For the purposes of developing specific health education and risk reduction
activities, a targeted needs assessment assists in the following:

  - Establishing appropriate goals, objectives, and activities.
  - Defining purpose and scope.
  - Identifying social/behavioral attitudes, behaviors, and perceptions of
    the target community.
  - Providing the basis for evaluation as part of formative and summative
    studies of interventions.
  - Establishing community-based support for the proposed activities.

The needs assessment may be informal or formal.  An informal needs
assessment may occur through frequent conversations and personal
interactions with colleagues and clients.  Staff and clientele interact
with each other when services are being delivered; therefore, clients may
inform them about services they find useful or unsatisfactory.  Also, staff
meetings are a vehicle for sharing and transferring information among
colleagues.  Through both of these processes, staff can usually determine
whether there are gaps in services.  

A formal needs assessment involves a systematic collection and analysis of
data about the client population.  This process may uncover needs that may
not be identified through an informal process.

A formal needs assessment requires the program planner to do the following:

  - Identify questions that need to be answered.
  - Determine how the information will be collected and from whom.
  - Identify existing sources of data, e.g., needs assessment data from the
    HIV prevention community planning group.
  - Collect the data.
  - Conduct a comprehensive analysis of the data.

The program staff should review data from the HIV prevention community
planning needs assessment to determine what additional information is
needed.  A variety of information would be useful in developing program
activities, including the following:

  - Socioeconomic and demographic status of the overall community and the
    specific populations being targeted.
  - Current statistics and trends involving HIV/STD disease.
  - Existing gaps in HIV/STD programs and services.
  - Social indicator data to examine significant and relevant factors that
    influence prevalence of HIV/STD disease, e.g., substance abuse, teenage
    pregnancy.
  - Identification of other programs and resources that focus on the same
    target audience.

Before conducting a needs assessment, program staff should consult with
community leaders from the client or target populations.  This is important
in order to determine the leaders' perceptions of their communities' needs,
to discuss the agency's plan for conducting the assessment, and to begin to
cultivate a working relationship with the leaders in order to attain
community support for the proposed avtivities.

How to Conduct a Needs Assessment

  - Identify sources of information and data.
  - Review existing literature on the specific problem.
  - Survey other agencies/organizations in the community to avoid
    unnecessary overlap in program activities and to identify emerging
    issues and new resources.
  - Interview key informants and community members who have knowledge of or
    experience with the problem.
  - Consult with national/state agencies where specific data, literature,
    or experience are deficient.

How Needs Assessments Affect Program Evaluation

A needs assessment is a component of program evaluation.  Each element of a
needs assessment plays a significant role in the planning, implementation,
and management of effective education programs.  If a program is to be
evaluated, the degree to which the program addresses the needs of the
target audiences must be examined.

Both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection and evaluation
are useful.  Qualitative methods afford the target audiences an opportunity
to express their thoughts, feelings, ideals, and beliefs.  Examples of
qualitative methods include informal interviews, focus groups, and public
forums.  These methods are designed to assist the program staff in
identifying problems or gaps that the agency may not have recognized, e.g.,
barriers to service delivery and client dissatisfaction.

Quantitative methods render statistical information.  Examples include
questionnaires and surveys, results of studies of the client populations'
attitudes and beliefs about HIV/STD disease, and information derived from
program activities, e.g., number of condoms distributed and documented
requests for services.

Note: For further reading on needs assessment, see "Chapter 5: Assessing
and Setting Priorities for Community Needs," Handbook for HIV Prevention
Community Planning, Academy for Education Development, April 1994.

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