group is required to develop a plan for a community needs assessment. This plan is part of a proposal, you are not conducting a needs assessment, only explaining how you will assess the needs of the community concerning a particular health or health related problem. This plan should identify the health problem and the objectives of the needs assessment in addressing this problem. Using steps developed by Jessica Smart (2019), each community needs assessment plan should provide details of the following:

1. Define the problem
2. Set scope or parameters of needs assessment i.e. what aspects of the problem will you be assessing. For instance, a lack of access to health care may be due to a lack of health insurance, lack of transportation, shortage of health care workers etc. Narrow down needs assessment to examine one or two aspects of the problem.
3. Determine at least 2 assessment criteria i.e. provide a justification for your assessment. For instance, you may choose to assess using an equity lens (low income populations/underrepresented or marginalized population such as the LGBTQI community are most affected by problem), economic lens (How much problem is costing the community – direct and indirect costs) or impact lens (a large proportion of the population is affected by this problem) etc
4. Provide plan for data collection i.e. identify the stakeholders for your needs assessment and identify which research data collection methods you will be using and why. For instance, you may decide to ask your stakeholders their perspective using questionnaire instead of online surveys because your stakeholders are mostly low income individuals with little or no access to the internet.
   
5. Timeline for needs assessment i.e draw a table/diagram depicting the timeline to conduct an actual needs assessment

Smart, J. (2019). Needs assessment: Families and Children Expert Panel practice resource

Links to an external site.. Australian Institute of Family Studies.

Resources on Needs Assessments:

• University of Kansas – The Community Tool Box: Community Assessments: https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/assessmentLinks to an external site.
• CDC Needs Assessment Participant Workbook: https://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/healthprotection/fetp/training_modules/15/community-needs_pw_final_9252013.pdfLinks to an external site.

Needs Assessment Plan:

• https://ovc.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh226/files/pubs/victimswithdisabilities/pdf/CommunityNeedsAssessmentPlan.pdfLinks to an external site.

Needs Assessment Report:

• https://ovc.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh226/files/pubs/victimswithdisabilities/pdf/CommunityNeedsAssessmentReport.pdfLinks to an external site.
• https://ovc.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh226/files/pubs/mvt-toolkit/Sample_NeedsAssessmentReportTemplate.pdfLinks to an external site.
• https://www.laep.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Community-Schools-Institute-Needs-Assesment-Wkshp-Needs-Assessment-Report-Outline.pdfLinks to an external site.

Example of Community Needs Assessment Surveys:

• https://www.ihda.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Community-Needs-Assessment-Survey.pdfLinks to an external site.
• https://www.hud.gov/sites/dfiles/SPM/documents/ROSS_HH_NeedsAssessmentSurveySampleFinal1.
• the group project topic is Mental problems and Substance abuse in Philadelphia, My topic is the 4th point( Provide plan for data collection) in those 5 points and in brief You need to define the problem also(point 1) 3 pages with 3-4 references are required. You can take reference from all given links and the Essentials of US health system 6th edition by L.shi and A. Doughlass.