Community Diagnosis in Health Education

Course Details

• Course name: Health Education and interpersonal communication
• Course code: 6501127-3
• Instructor: Dr. Aeshah AL mutiari

Community Diagnosis

• Community diagnosis is the identification and quantification of health problems in a community.
• It considers mortality and morbidity rates, and ratios.
• The goal is to identify those at risk or those needing healthcare.
• It involves a quantitative and qualitative description of the health of citizens and factors that influence their health.
• It identifies problems, suggests areas for improvement, and promotes action.

Defining "Community"

• A cluster of people with at least one common characteristic.
• Geographic location, occupation, ethnicity, or housing condition are examples.
• A group of people sharing a common characteristic or interest, living within a larger society.

Community Diagnosis Process

• It's a way to analyze aggregate and social statistics alongside local situations.
• The process aims to determine the community's health needs.
• It applies individual diagnosis techniques to a community context.

Similarities Between Individual and Community Diagnoses

• History taking (symptoms) is similar to gaining community health awareness through informal meetings and discussions.
• Observing signs (physical examination) mirrors factual data collection through basic surveys and specific demographic surveys.
• Inferring causes (laboratory tests) connects to making inferences from the data to diagnose the community with indicators.
• Treatment provision (prescribing treatment) and follow-up practices are mirrored by community interventions, prescription health action plans, and evaluating community health action.

Procedures for Community Diagnosis

• Assessment: Formal and informal leaders are assessed along with community members, leadership patterns, and power struggles.
• Investigations: Primary and secondary sources are collected through data collection.
• Preliminary Diagnosis: An initial evaluation considers medications, surgeries, and patient compliance. Results are presented to the community.
• Action Plan: Enlists community cooperation and collaboration for health status improvement.
• Follow-Up: Continuous efforts ensure lasting community health improvement.

Importance of Community Diagnosis

• Finding common problems/diseases within the community that are easily preventable.
• Identifying who in the community is at risk for health problems.
• Accessing underprivileged people who may not be able to access health services due to poverty, discrimination, etc.
• Making sound decisions based upon proper information and knowledge.
• Providing baseline information about health status.
• Providing an overall picture of community health problems.
• Suggesting and evaluating solutions to community health problems
• Facilitating resource allocation and direction
• Creating opportunities for intersectoral collaboration
• Establishing indicators for healthcare practice evaluation
• Providing data as a reference for the district

Purposes of Community Diagnosis

• Identifying and quantifying health problems.
• Identifying those at risk.
• Identifying community needs and problems.
• Determining available resources.
• Setting priorities for planning.

Steps to Conduct Community Diagnosis

• Initiation
• Data collection and analysis
• Diagnosis
• Dissemination

Types of Community Diagnosis

• Comprehensive: Aims to gather general information about the community.
• Problem-Oriented: Addresses specific needs within the community.

Health Indicators

• Variables used for assessing the health of a community.
• Indicators must be valid, reliable, sensitive, specific, feasible, and relevant.
• Examples include mortality rates, morbidity rates, disability rates, and nutritional status. Environmental indicators, economic indicators, social indicators, and those of quality of life could also be considered.

Community Analysis

• Examining data to define needs, strengths, barriers, opportunities, readiness, and resources.
• The product of this analysis is a community profile.

Steps in Community Diagnosis Implementation

• Determine Objectives
• Define Study Population
• Determine Data to Gather
• Begin Data Collection using:
  • Records review
  • Surveys
  • Observations
  • Interviews
  • Participant observation
• Develop Instruments (questionnaires, interview guides, checklists)
• Gather Actual Data
• Summarize Data
• Present Data
• Analyze Data
• Identify Problems
• Prioritize Problems using:
  • Nature of the condition
  • Magnitude of the problem
  • Severity of the problem
  • Modifiability
  • Preventive Potential
  • Social Concern

Community Diagnosis Characteristics

• Ability to address important community problems
• Ability to identify most targeted health events
• Adequacy in reflecting changes in event distribution over time, place, and person - Inclusivity of stakeholders
• Uncomplicated
• Sensitive
• Timely
• Inexpensive

Basic Data in Community Diagnosis Process

• Background/Setting: Local history, geography (part of which region, boundaries, land area), subdivisions, political economic, social categories, and climate.
• Demography: Demographic distribution Age-sex structure, factors like migration, age dependency(18-49), birth/death rate, ethnic distribution and density
• Economic status: Sources of income, employment, per capita income, poverty level, and economic organizations.
• Social indicators: Education, housing, communication, transportation, sources of healthcare, health information, public assistance, and patterns of leadership.
• Health Status: Mortality and morbidity, and other health indices. Water supply, garbage and excreta disposal, and sanitation indices are also important.
• Food/Nutrition: Sources of food, prevalence of malnutrition
• Health Resources: Manpower (health officer, nutritionist, nurse, doctor), health facilities, health financing, and national and local health-related legislation.
• Organized Community Health programs: Expanded program on Immunization, and Maternal and Child Health care.

Diagram of Community Diagnosis Process

• A diagram illustrates the flow from community discussions, record reviews, surveys and analysis of data; Leading to community diagnosis.