Internet-Based Community Assessment
Various information gathering methods are used when conducting a community assessment. Data gathering methods include individual and group interviews of key community members and stakeholders; surveys conducted orally or in writing with a small group that represents the larger population or with as many community members as possible; observations of the physical features of the community and the interactions between members; and accessing public records, archives, or agency statistics.
Local, state, and federal government statistics and records can be found online in virtual university libraries and on government and agency websites. Many communities have their own websites, which often contain valuable information as well.
For this Discussion, you will imagine that you were recently hired by a human service nonprofit organization as a prevention specialist. This organization was just awarded funding to pilot a 3-year prevention program. Your first task as the prevention specialist is to conduct an online assessment to learn about the characteristics of the community in order to identify target issues that you want to address in your prevention program and intervention service delivery.
- Identify the geographical location of the human service organization.
- Use at least two credible online data and statistics providers and discuss the following:
- Type of human service organization that has hired you (i.e., community mental health agency, substance abuse recovery organization, family violence protection agency or shelter, child and family welfare agency, homeless shelter, community center, charter school, family planning agency, faith-based services, integrated health clinic, etc.) and the general services that the agency provides
- Community sociodemographic characteristics
- Physical features of the community
- Biopsychosocial (biological, psychological, and social) issues that are prevalent with the population that you will serve
- Based on your found facts, discuss the prevention service(s) that you will provide in your program.
- Were there facts about this community that you already knew and were confirmed through your online search? If so, what were they?
- Were there facts about this community that surprised you? If so, which ones?
The Internet is a large and comprehensive depot of factual information and knowledge on almost any subject right at your fingertips. Unfortunately, the Internet is also littered with false information and lies. It is important to be aware of the reliability of the source of any information you get on the Internet and what constitutes a credible Web resource. The Writing Center Web Research Guidelines provides some recommendations for conducting Web research.
The following online websites provide credible data and statistics resources that you might find useful in your data gathering for this discussion.
Usa.gov. (2015). U.S. data and statistics. Retrieved from https://www.usa.gov/statistics
Centers for Disease Control. (2015). Data and statistics. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/datastatistics/index.html
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administrations. (2015). Data and statistics. Retrieved from https://data.hrsa.gov
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2021). Data. Retrieved from https://www.samhsa.gov/data/
What Students Are Saying About Us
.......... Customer ID: 12*** | Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐"Honestly, I was afraid to send my paper to you, but you proved you are a trustworthy service. My essay was done in less than a day, and I received a brilliant piece. I didn’t even believe it was my essay at first 🙂 Great job, thank you!"
.......... Customer ID: 11***| Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
"This company is the best there is. They saved me so many times, I cannot even keep count. Now I recommend it to all my friends, and none of them have complained about it. The writers here are excellent."
"Order a custom Paper on Similar Assignment at essayfount.com! No Plagiarism! Enjoy 20% Discount!"
