Community Assessment For Health Emergency In Inala, Queensland, Australia
Community Assessment Process
Discuss About The Community Assessment For Health Emergency.
Community assessment is at the core of community nursing practice that aims to understand the health needs of the population. The assessment is considered as the crucial process informing planning and intervention, thereby aiding in the evaluation. Factors that are to be considered in a community assessment include age, gender, employment, economic class, literacy level, culture and religion. The present paper is a community assessment of the Inala community in Queensland, Australia that compares the population data of the community, Queensland and Australia. The paper first describes the Inala community and then analyses the retrieved data from ABS profile to understand the community characteristics. The inferences for community needs assessment is drawn in the next section. A concluding section summarizes the main points of the paper. The standpoint taken in this paper is that Inala community has distinct health needs based on population characteristics that are to be addressed through community nursing practice.
Community assessment is defined as the systematic examination of the quality of life and status indicators for a chosen population with the aim of identification of key issues and needs of intervention. Such an assessment is the process that describes the state of the local people, the major risk factors for poor quality of life and the probable action to be taken. The same is not to be considered as a one-off activity; it is a developmental process carried out over time (Chilton & Bain, 2017). According to Evans?Agnew et al., (2017) in order to serve a particular community with the needed interventions, the key features of the community are to be understood, and a community assessment aids in this regard. The findings of the assessment define the degree to which needs are existing in the community and the assets required for addressing the same. The researchers commented that a community assessment has the goal of developing an informed knowledge of the needs or gaps existing in the community and the comprehensive impact on the community’s individuals. Community needs affect the community at all levels: individuals, families, community organizations, and businesses. There can, therefore, be an improvement in the quality of life of all stakeholders through the community assessment (Brown et al., 2016).
The community assessment process can be divided into six distinct stages; defining the scope, deciding on collaboration, collecting data, determining the key findings, setting priorities and creating the action plan, and sharing the findings (Stone et al., 2018). It is to be noted that step one to three is to be perceived as an iterative planning process. Though each step of the process is independent of each other, the information gathered from one-step might change the approach taken by the researchers to another step. The key findings from the data collection serve multiple purposes. Firstly, they validate anecdotal evidence of the assets and needs of the community. Further, they highlight the trends in the data. In addition, they indicate major differences across sections of the community, if applicable. Dissemination of the key findings of the community assessment is crucial for supporting efforts made to take suitable actions.
Community Profile of Inala
The community selected for the present community assessment is Inala, Queensland, Australia. Inala is a suburb in the City of Brisbane, Australia, and is situated at 18 kilometres south-west of the Brisbane CBD. The community’s history started as Serviceton suburb in 1946. In the year, 2016 Inala had a population of 14,849 people, out of which 48.5% were male and 51.5% were female. The community has many medical centres, two post offices, two community halls, a community art gallery, various churches, and a Buddhist monastery. A number of government-funded community programs and organizations are present in the community including the Inala Community House and Inala Youth Service. It is praiseworthy that the community has a multicultural society and boasts different nationalities. Inala has a not-for-profit community group, named “Richlands, Inala and Suburbs History Group” that aims at carrying out research on the history and diverse cultural heritage of the community (Clark & Mynott, 2013).
The present community assessment gives a clear picture of the community profile of Inala and the needs for community services in healthcare. It is indicated from the data that the number of females in the community is more as compared to the number of males. The population with age above 65 years is high quite high, as compared to the country’s data overall. While the number of married and unmarried individuals is same, the number of divorced individuals is also noteworthy. While most of the population has a catholic religious affiliation, a considerable section of the population does not have a religious affiliation. From the community profile, the three social determinants of health for the community are education, employment and working conditions, and race. As indicated by the data, it is clear that the general education level in the community is poor, with a considerable section of the population having passed year 12, followed by a section having passed year 9 or below. Out of the total number of employed individuals, most of them work full time. The common occupations of the individuals include labourers, community and personal service, machinery workers. Further, the common industries of employment include hairdressing and beauty services, food services, and supermarket and grocery stores. The vulnerable subgroup that might have unmet health needs is the Vietnamese subpopulation. The data on country of birth of the individuals in the community highlights that other than Australia, the other places of birth of the community individuals are Vietnam, New Zealand and Samoa, with Vietnam at the top of the list. This is consistent with the fact that Vietnamese is the second most used language in the community after English. Most of the individuals have a Vietnamese ancestry, and the number is higher than those with Australian ancestry are.
Social Determinants of Health for Inala Community
At this section of the paper, it would be desirable to highlight the implications of social determinants of health for the community outcomes of the individuals in Inala community. Benach et al., (2014) opined that education level of individuals acts as a major determinant of health in a community. Low levels of education, as witnessed in Inala, contributes to the poor understanding of health management and prevention strategies and compliance to the same. Lack of health knowledge, as indicative of low level of education, is linked with malnutrition, substance abuse and neglect. The explanation for employment and working conditions acting as a social determinant of health can be found in the work of (Bandladn et al., 2014). Having a job increases the chances of better life outcomes as social relationships and health management styles are appropriate. In Inala, the working conditions are poor, and the employment rate is low as compared to the nation’s statistics. Studies have highlighted that working in industry sites and machinery firms increase the risk of suffering conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, low back pain and asthma. From the analysis of Braveman and Gottlieb (2014), it can be understood that the race of a population is directly linked with social exclusion and thus acts as a social determinant of health. Racial discrimination acts as a barrier to adequate access to healthcare services. In the Inala community, a larger section of the population is probe to suffer racial discrimination as they have different places of origin other than Australia. Stigmatization, hostility and discrimination would restrain individuals from receiving health education and gaining citizenship activities. The greater the length of time that the individuals are subjected to inequality, the higher the chances is for poor health outcomes.
The vulnerable community subgroup identified from the community assessment that is the Vietnamese, are to be engaged at an advanced level for exploring their health needs, engagement process would entail a concerted effort and adequate time would need to be given for activating and sustaining a healthy relationship. Fostering a sense of ownership in the community assessment would make the individuals a part of it. Reasonable expectations are to be set for the member’s involvement, so that they are proactive in providing valuable information. Further, there is a need of coordinating the efforts with organizations, as and when seemed fit, so that the individuals do not have to under multiple assessments. Lastly, it is pivotal to be culturally sensitive while communicating, considering recruitment of participants in a linguistically and culturally safe manner (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2015).
Implications of Social Determinants of Health for Inala Community
In conclusion, a community assessment is a crucial process of highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of a certain community about population data. The aim of such assessment is to understand the areas that are to addressed at the earliest in terms of policy changes. The present community assessment considered the Inala community in Queensland, Australia. The data had been presented in a tabular form to make the comparison with national data easier. An accurate analysis of the findings indicates that the social determinants of health for the community are education level, employment and working condition, and race. The determinants negatively influence the health outcomes of the population. Further, the vulnerable population subgroup for the community is the Vietnamese. It is to be mentioned that this section of the population is to be engaged in culturally safe strategies to understand their distinct health needs and implement aligned strategies in future.
References
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