What is a Needs Assessment?

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What is a Needs Assessment?

• An introduction

By Jacob Coverstone
Jcoverstone_at_aao.org I have no financial interest
to disclose.
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Objectives

• Attendees will be able to
• Define Needs Assessment
• Create and utilize an outline for conducting a
  Needs Assessment
• Understand types of identified needs
• Normative
• Relative
• Expressed
• Perceived

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When do you conduct a Needs Assessment?

• A Needs Assessment takes place before the
  activity is designed.

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Why do you conduct a Needs Assessment?

• The purpose of a Needs Assessment is to make
  decisions regarding priorities for the program.
• If you conduct a proper Needs Assessment, you
  will address or support 9 of the 22 Updated
  Criteria and 3 of 7 Essential Elements C2, C3,
  C4, C6, C16, C18, C19, C21, C22, E2.1, E2.2, E2.3

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Needs Assessments are about Evidence

• Can you answer
• what evidence do we have that our audience needs
  this education?
• what evidence do we have that our solution will
  yield positive results?
• what is the reason that we are offering
  education in this format?

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It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is'
is Former President Bill Clinton

• Definitions 1
• Gap
• Need
• Want
• Assessment
• Needs Assessment

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Definitions 1

• Gaps
• The space between what currently exists and what
  should exist.
• Needs are contributing factors
• What needs to be resolved to help close a gap.
• Needs often relate to barriers
• Wants are possible solutions
• A proposed means to filling the gap.
• Assessment is the evaluation of needs, barriers
  and resources.

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Definitions 1, continued.

• Needs Assessment is the process of identifying
  and measuring areas for improvement in a target
  audience, and determining the methods to achieve
  improvement.

So important, it has its own slide.
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What goes into a Needs Assessment?

• Normative data
• Evaluations
• Objectives
• Opinion
• Timelines
• Barriers
• Resources

What does it take to get your activity off the
ground?
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So what is a Needs Assessment?
Pre-Assessment
Needs Assessment
Assessment
Action Plan
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Phases of a Needs Assessment

• Pre-Assessment
• Data collection. What do we know?
• This is the foundation of Gap Analysis
• What is the current state?
• Where should we be?
• How does our region compare to others?
• Whats new?
• Whats important?

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Phases of a Needs Assessment

• Assessment
• Evaluation of the data
• What are our barriers?
• Both internal and external
• What Needs have we identified?
• Are some gaps bigger than others?
• Consider both scope and severity
• What are our priorities?
• Do we have the resources to address them?
• Why do anything at all?

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Phases of a Needs Assessment

• Action Plan
• How are we going to translate what we have into
  what they need?
• Which Needs can we address?
• How are we overcoming barriers?
• List additional barriers hindering progress
• Have any areas been identified for follow-up or
  future opportunities for educational
  intervention?

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Gathering Data

• Search for objective measures
• Scope How many, or what percent, of patients are
  exposed/vulnerable/expected to suffer from
• Severity What are the consequences?
• Discomfort? Pain? Blindness?
• Are there national standards for treatment?
• Can we do better?

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Assessment, an example

• It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of
  gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and
  we're wearing sunglasses.
• - Elwood Blues, The Blues Brothers

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It's not what you know, it's how you know it.

• Needs (gaps) are identified in 4 ways
• Types of Need
• Normative
• Relative
• Expressed
• Perceived

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Types of Need

• Normative
• Defined as falling below a standard criterion
  established by custom, authority, or general
  consensus.
• Strength
• Allows planners to use objective targets
• Weakness
• Need levels change with time and must be
  re-evaluated

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Types of Need, cont.

• Relative
• Measured by the gap between the level of service
  between similar communities
• Strength
• Can lead to a priority for distribution of
  limited resources
• Weakness
• Limits resource allocation to under-performing
  areas

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Types of Need, cont.

• Expressed
• Defined in terms of the number of people who
  actually have sought help
• Strength
• Focuses on situations where people have taken
  action
• Helps to determine barriers
• Weakness
• Not all people with Needs seek help
• Loss of the bigger picture
• Misses latent Needs

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Types of Need, cont.

• Perceived
• Defined in terms of what people think their needs
  are or feel their needs to be
• Strength
• Easy to come by
• Weakness
• Subjective
• Subject to the Dunning-Kruger effect

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Problems must be translated into Needs

• Strive to answer all 4 types of Need.
• Each type of need paints a different picture of
  the gap.

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Needs are translated into Objectives

• But thats another talk

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Remember

• Want and Need are not synonyms.
• A Needs Assessment is conducted before the
  activity is planned.
• Pre-Assessment is not enough.
• The more types of need you consider, the richer
  the planning process and the more effective the
  education.
• What gets measured gets managed Peter
  Drucker.