Needs Assessment of Rural Communities: A Focus on Older Adults

Abstract

High-quality community needs assessments can help focus limited resources on the needs of a rapidly expanding population-older Americans. Based on such assessments, organizations and communities can effectively plan and deliver cost-effective, appropriate health promotion/wellness programs and health/social services to targeted populations. This article, which describes the Arkansas Aging Initiative's (AAI) use of a community needs assessment to identify its constituents' top health needs, provides specific background information for communities with demographics similar to those in Arkansas and offers assessment strategies for communities throughout the US. The AAI used two complementary methodologies to obtain critical input from Arkansas providers and their communities: focus groups of healthcare providers and community members and surveys administered to older adults. The assessment confirmed that health problems in the communities were consistent with leading causes of morbidity and mortality at state and national levels. It indicated that respondents' top three health needs related to affordability, including affordability of prescription medications, medical care, and health insurance, and that needs varied inversely with age. In other findings, married individuals rated their own health as better than their single counterparts; whites rated their health better than non-whites; and more than half of respondents reported leaving their counties to receive healthcare. This community needs assessment has enabled the AAI to address respondents' needs by developing specific educational and interdisciplinary healthcare initiatives, such as increasing access to a prescription drug assistance program.

Strategies for Assessing Community Challenges and Strengths for Cancer Disparities Participatory Research and Outreach

“…Congruent with a participatory approach, the draft interview guide instrument and procedures for the community partner assessment were based on review of the literature (Beverly, Mcatee, Costello, Chernoff, & Casteel, 2005; Mizoguchi, Luluquisen, Witt, & Maker, 2004) and developed with the co-equal participation (Israel et al, 1998; Macaulay & Ryan, 2003) of all TBCCN community partners during several face-to-face sessions to allow full input and participation of the community and academic collaborators. The draft instrument was pilot tested with four organizations (health care and non–health care) representing the diversity of the TBCCN partnership to make sure the questions were relevant and the interview instrument was of acceptable length.…”

Congregate meal sites participants: Can they manage their diets?

“…Particular concern has been shown for socially isolated rural older individuals because many of them practice poor dietary behaviors, mismanage chronic diseases (Glasser et al, 2003), lack consistent health care insurance (Beverly et al, 2005), and have a general mistrust of health care services. These aspects of rural culture have made these individuals more prone to suffer from chronic conditions, develop poor dietary habits, and attempt to manage their chronic conditions independently.…”

“…Rural older individuals usually have limited income, little or no health insurance coverage (Beverly et al, 2005), frail skeletal structures, a lack social support regarding health care, infrequent visits to their physicians, long wait times at the physician offices (Coburn and Bolda, 2001), and insufficient transportation to physicians. Rural older individuals also have been described as reactive rather than proactive when seeking health services (Glasser et al, 2003).…”

Boomers' Prospective Needs for Senior Centers and Related Services: A Survey of Persons 50–59

“…The Arkansas Aging Initiative's statewide survey asked older adults (M age = 72.2 years; Range = 65-103) for their opinions regarding problems with current services and needs for improvement (Beverly, Mcatee, Costello, Chernoff, & Casteel, 2007). Florida, where one quarter of the population is over 65, has initiated several programs to improve meeting and understanding the needs of older adults including Respite for Elders Living in Everyday Families (Department of Elder Affairs State of Florida, 2010).…”