Overview
At a global level, there are rising demands for health care, limited resources and increasing inequalities in health. Community health assets and needs assessments have a vital part to play, enabling practitioners, managers and policy-makers to identify those in greatest need; the physical, economic, social and cultural assets available within the community; and to ensure that health care resources are used to maximise health improvement. For health promotion practitioners, the ability to conduct a community health assessment is a core skill. You will be introduced to the different types of community assets and needs assessments that can be undertaken with local communities. You will examine the history and role of community assets and needs assessments and review a range of methods that can be used to implement and evaluate assets and needs assessments in local communities. You will have the opportunity to complete a community profile and also undertake a community assets and needs assessment.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
There are no requisites for this unit.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 1 - 2021
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of 'pass' in order to pass the unit. If any 'pass/fail' tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully ('pass' grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the 'assessment task' section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback - Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Evaluation
The Moodle had too much on it and I found it difficult to navigate and keep track of the readings and discussions I was supposed to complete.
Further redesign of Moodle site and flagging of what resources and activities are "essential" and others that are "optional".
Feedback from Email, Class attendance
Tutorials were not well-attended.
Consider changing weekly tutorial activities to group work activities that should be undertaken to complete assessment. Still hold weekly Zoom support sessions for students.
Feedback from Evaluation
Students commented that they appreciated regular constructive feedback and contact from the Unit Coordinator, particularly around assessment.
Continue to provide detailed feedback and contact. Encourage contact from those who are unable to attend tutorials.
- Argue the importance of community assets and needs assessment as the foundation of effective health promotion.
- Analyse how determinants of health are incorporated into community assets and needs assessments.
- Determine how various health promotion theories and frameworks influence different sources of information in community assets and needs assessments.
- Apply culturally appropriate methods and models to assess the assets and needs of a community and facilitate knowledge transfer and advocacy
- Discuss facilitation and collaboration processes used to analyse and prioritise the information gathered from community assets and needs assessments.
- Explain how ethical considerations are applied in a community assets and needs assessment context
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
1 - Written Assessment - 30% | ||||||
2 - Group Discussion - 20% | ||||||
3 - Group Work - 50% |
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
1 - Communication | ||||||
2 - Problem Solving | ||||||
3 - Critical Thinking | ||||||
4 - Information Literacy | ||||||
5 - Team Work | ||||||
6 - Information Technology Competence | ||||||
7 - Cross Cultural Competence | ||||||
8 - Ethical practice | ||||||
9 - Social Innovation | ||||||
10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures |
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
1 - Written Assessment - 30% | ||||||||||
2 - Group Discussion - 20% | ||||||||||
3 - Group Work - 50% |
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
- Zoom Capacity (microphone required; webcam optional)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing styles below:
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
r.preston@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Defining and Understanding Community
Chapter
Prescribed learning activities - combination of narrated PowerPoints, journal articles, chapter readings and online activities
Events and Submissions/Topic
Introductory Zoom Tutorial: including discussion on assessments 1 and 3.
Please note: Zoom tutorials and drop in sessions are not compulsory and will be recorded, however highly recommended. In addition students must commit to meeting regularly with their groups from week 5.
Module/Topic
Community assets and needs assessments: what are they and how do we do them
Chapter
Prescribed learning activities - combination of narrated PowerPoints, journal articles, chapter readings and online activities
Events and Submissions/Topic
Zoom drop in session.
Module/Topic
Community Profiles: using secondary data to building your understanding
Chapter
Prescribed learning activities - combination of narrated PowerPoints, journal articles, chapter readings and online activities
Events and Submissions/Topic
Zoom drop in session.
Module/Topic
Tools and methods for conducting community assessments
Chapter
Prescribed learning activities - combination of narrated PowerPoints, journal articles, chapter readings and online activities
Events and Submissions/Topic
Zoom drop in session: Focus on Assessment 1.
Module/Topic
Engagement and collaboration in community assessments
Chapter
Prescribed learning activities - combination of narrated PowerPoints, journal articles, chapter readings and online activities
Events and Submissions/Topic
Zoom Tutorial: You will form groups for assessment 2: Community Health Assessment in this week's tutorial and/or online.
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Quantitative data for community assessment
Chapter
Prescribed learning activities - combination of narrated PowerPoints, journal articles, chapter readings and online activities
Events and Submissions/Topic
Zoom drop in session.
Online collaborative group work for assessment 2.
Assessment 1: Community Profile Due Monday 19 April 2021 11.45pm
Community Profile Due: Week 6 Monday (19 Apr 2021) 11:45 pm AEST
Module/Topic
Qualitative data for community assessment
Chapter
Prescribed learning activities - combination of narrated PowerPoints, journal articles, chapter readings and online activities
Events and Submissions/Topic
Zoom drop in session.
Online collaborative group work for assessment 2.
Module/Topic
Identifying, characterising and defining the community's assets and needs
Chapter
Prescribed learning activities - combination of narrated PowerPoints, journal articles, chapter readings and online activities
Events and Submissions/Topic
Zoom drop in session.
Online collaborative group work for assessment 2.
Module/Topic
Prioritising needs and ethical considerations
Chapter
Prescribed learning activities - combination of narrated PowerPoints, journal articles, chapter readings and online activities
Events and Submissions/Topic
Zoom Tutorial : Q & A on Assessment 2.
Online collaborative group work for assessment 2.
Module/Topic
Interpreting and communicating your findings
Chapter
Prescribed learning activities - combination of narrated PowerPoints, journal articles, chapter readings and online activities
Events and Submissions/Topic
Zoom drop in session.
Online collaborative group work for assessment 2.
Module/Topic
Assessment to action and evaluation of the process
Chapter
Prescribed learning activities - combination of narrated PowerPoints, journal articles, chapter readings and online activities
Events and Submissions/Topic
Zoom drop in session.
Online collaborative group work for assessment 2.
Module/Topic
Specialised community assessments
Chapter
Prescribed learning activities - combination of narrated PowerPoints, journal articles, chapter readings and online activities
Events and Submissions/Topic
Assessment 2: Community Health Assessment Report
Due Monday 31 May 2021 11:45pm.
Community Health assessment report Due: Week 12 Monday (31 May 2021) 11:45 pm AEST
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Assessment 3: Group Discussion
Due Monday 7 June 2021 11:45pm.
Note: During the term there are activities that apply the concepts covered each week in activities using the discussion forum. You should also interact with other students online through posting responses to their discussion board posts.
Group Discussion Due: Review/Exam Week Monday (7 June 2021) 11:45 pm AEST
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Written Assessment
You need to provide a detailed community profile in the form of a report. This report will include:
- The definition and elements of community, as outlined by (Issel & Wells 2018);
- Information about people, place and interaction relevant to your chosen community;
- Commentary about the assets available in the community;
- Commentary about the strengths and limitations of the information presented;
- Commentary related to what additional data could contribute to a comprehensive health assessment of your chosen community;
- You should gather the information related to your chosen community from multiple sources, such as census data, local media, published reports, etc.
As the content of this assessment may form the basis of assessment item 2 it is crucial that your research and description of the community is both thorough and accurate.
As part of the report you will need to acknowledge the strengths and limitations of the information you present, discuss how and from where further data may be obtained and in what ways this additional information may contribute to a comprehensive health assessment of the community you have described.
Further information about the assessment can be found on the Moodle site.
Week 6 Monday (19 Apr 2021) 11:45 pm AEST
Please submit a word document only.
Week 8 Monday (3 May 2021)
This report will be marked using criterion-referenced assessment. Criterion includes the following:
- Report writing skills.
- Demonstrated knowledge and considerable understanding of people, place, interaction and infrastructure within a community.
- Ability to locate and evaluate basic data.
- Ability to identify and discuss limitations of information presented within the community profile.
- Ability to reference using Harvard or APA.
Further information can be found on the Moodle site.
- Communication
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- Argue the importance of community assets and needs assessment as the foundation of effective health promotion.
- Apply culturally appropriate methods and models to assess the assets and needs of a community and facilitate knowledge transfer and advocacy
2 Group Work
In a group, you will need to produce a comprehensive community health assessment report, that could be used to plan an effective and culturally sensitive health promotion intervention to address a health need which you identify as a priority within the community. This report will include:
- a detailed outline of the health issue that could direct the development of a health promotion intervention
- the effective use of both primary and secondary data
- a critical discussion of the findings of the assets and needs assessment
- a description of the process of identifying a health priority and an outline of relevant recommendations
As such the report you submit must be comprehensive and constitute a significant body of work.
Students will work in small groups for this assessment and groups need to be formed in the tutorial in week 5. Each working group will consist of 4 or 5 members. The ability to work in project teams is an important attribute for any health professional particularly those involved in the development, implementation and evaluation of health promotion programs. Group work promotes the development of many of CQUniversity’s Graduate Attributes including teamwork, critical evaluation,
feedback and communication skills as well as academic honesty. Furthermore, community needs assessments are usually conducted in multidisciplinary teams and in partnerships with communities.
In addition students will contribute an individual reflection on what they have learnt about themselves when working in their group. They will explore how this learning could be translated to working in partnerships with communities.
Peer assessment of group members' contributions will also be undertaken.
Week 12 Monday (31 May 2021) 11:45 pm AEST
Exam Week Monday (14 June 2021)
The group report will be marked using criterion-referenced assessment. Criterion used include:
- Report writing skills
- Knowledge and understanding of types of data that can be utilised for a community health assessment.
- Data analysis and presentation skills.
- Consideration of ethical and cultural requirements.
- Clear recommendations which are consistent with the health assessment.
- Referencing skills
Individual assessment is worth 15% and will be assessed on :
- Reflection of individual contribution, strengths and areas for improvement and application in group work
- Understanding of key aspects of working in partnerships with communities
- Peer review (5% of 15% individual assessment)
Further information can be found on the Moodle site
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Team Work
- Information Technology Competence
- Ethical practice
- Analyse how determinants of health are incorporated into community assets and needs assessments.
- Determine how various health promotion theories and frameworks influence different sources of information in community assets and needs assessments.
- Apply culturally appropriate methods and models to assess the assets and needs of a community and facilitate knowledge transfer and advocacy
- Discuss facilitation and collaboration processes used to analyse and prioritise the information gathered from community assets and needs assessments.
- Explain how ethical considerations are applied in a community assets and needs assessment context
3 Group Discussion
During the term there are activities that apply the concepts covered each week in activities using the discussion forum. You must contribute to at least one activity per week and demonstrate how you have contributed to the learning of others regarding community assets and needs assessments. You should post these activities in a timely manner by the following week after the activity (e.g. for a week 2 activity you must post by week 3). You should also interact with other students online through posting responses to their discussion board posts.
Review/Exam Week Monday (7 June 2021) 11:45 pm AEST
Due back to students on 21 June 2021
Discussion forum posts will be assessed on:
- relevance of content
- Timeliness of submission
- contribution to discussion in a way that promotes learning of self and others
Further information can be found on the Moodle site.
- Communication
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
- Argue the importance of community assets and needs assessment as the foundation of effective health promotion.
- Analyse how determinants of health are incorporated into community assets and needs assessments.
- Determine how various health promotion theories and frameworks influence different sources of information in community assets and needs assessments.
- Discuss facilitation and collaboration processes used to analyse and prioritise the information gathered from community assets and needs assessments.
- Explain how ethical considerations are applied in a community assets and needs assessment context
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.