Overview of Community Health Assessment Toolkit

A community health assessment (CHA) or community health needs assessment (CHNA) is a systematic review process to determine key health issues. Tribes, states, counties, and communities may engage in a CHA to identify its citizens’ health needs. The development of a plan to address these needs is the goal of completing a CHA. This plan is often called a community health improvement plan or CHIP. CHAs also help move entities towards attaining public health accreditation. Public health accreditation is a designation that a public health entity meets the quality and performance criteria designated by the Public Health Accreditation Board. Tribal input and considerations were included in creating these criteria throughout their development. Criteria focuses on evidence-based standards in improvement and protection of the public’s health and are based on the 10 Essential Services of Public Health. Gaining public health accreditation is a lengthy process that includes time-intensive planning, documentation, infrastructure development and service provision improvement. In turn, meeting the standards and measures set forth by the accreditation criteria has numerous benefits (Public Health Accreditation Board, 2013):

  • Identifying areas that a health program excels in
  • Prioritization of long-standing concerns
  • Stimulus for continued quality improvement in daily practice
  • Performance and improvement opportunities
  • Increased transparency and accountability within the health department
  • Competitiveness in funding opportunities
  • Improved management process
  • Accountability with external stakeholders
  • Improved communication with governing bodies
  • Coordination of public health services
  • Exercising tribal sovereignty

Completing a CHA is one of the first steps in reducing health disparities. The CHA provides formal identification of issues and needs; successful current approaches; opportunities to improve the efforts to reduce disparity; opens communication among stakeholders to work together towards disparity reduction; can provide previously unavailable funding resources to assist in disparity reduction; and guides the development of a plan to address the identified health disparity.

TRIBAL PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT/PROGRAM STRUCTURE AND PERCEPTIONS

Public health efforts are organized differently in each tribal nation. Often tribal public health services do not look like state public health departments. Some tribal nations have departments, while others have programs and services that are integrated into various sectors. Some programs are highly unified in practice and funding, while others are decentralized throughout the community services. Many programs within tribal communities essentially conduct public health work without acknowledging it as such. Due to decades of limited resources and funding, tribal perceptions of health are often skewed toward clinical contexts of treatment, rather than prevention. It is important to build upon traditional teachings of holistic health in order to acknowledge public health’s role in overall wellness.

  1. Engage the Community
  2. Develop a Plan
  3. Identify Community Health Indicators
  4. Collect Data
  5. Analyze Data
  6. Identify Health Priorities
  7. Communicate the Results

Through partnership with the North Dakota Department of Health – North Dakota Gaining Ground Network, the American Indian Public Health Resource Center developed the Engaging Tribal Nations in North Dakota in Conducting Community Health Assessments toolkit. This toolkit is designed as a step-by-step map for tribal and public health programs wishing to identify: Tribal community members’ health priorities; unmet health needs in tribal communities; and the effectiveness of existing tribal health services. On behalf of the NDSU American Indian Public Health Resource Center and Department of Public Health, I wish you success as you work to grow quality of health in Indian Country.

Community Health Assessment Process

Interested in accessing, "Engaging Tribal Nations of North Dakota in Conducting Community Health Assessments" toolkit?

Email us at aiphrc.ndsu@ndsu.edu

American Indian Public Health Resource Center

Email: ndsu.aiphrc@ndsu.edu Phone: (701) 231-5618 Page Manager How are we doing? AIPHRC Facebook