Conducting Community Needs
Assessments:
Planning for the growing older population
Jan Mutchler, PhD, Caitlin Coyle, MS &
Hayley Gravette, MSW
University of Massachusetts Boston
Department of Gerontology
Massachusetts Council on Aging Conference 2012
October 3, 2012 Falmouth, MA
Conducting Needs Assessments | October 3, 2012
Outline of today’s presentation:
▸ What is a needs assessment?
▸ How can a needs assessment be helpful to a
Council on Aging?
▸ Components of a needs assessment
▸ Working with a research partner
Conducting Needs Assessments | October 3, 2012
What is a needs assessment?
▸ “a systematic set of procedures undertaken for the purpose of
setting priorities and making decisions about program or
organizational improvement and allocation of resources” –Witkin
and Altschuld, 1995
▸ Three basic components:
▸ Pre-assessment
▸ Assessment
▸ Post-assessment
▸ Keep the goal in mind
▸ No absolutes
Conducting Needs Assessments | October 3, 2012
How can a needs assessment be helpful to a
Council on Aging?
▸ Provide backdrop for planning
▸ Achieve internal goals
▸ Achieve external goals
Conducting Needs Assessments | October 3, 2012
Pre-assessment: planning
▸ Understand WHY you are conducting a needs assessment
▸ Broad and informative
▸ Targeted to a specific goal
▸ Develop a thorough roadmap and timeline for the process
▸ Accept that this will change and be delayed
▸ Identify areas of concern or potential barriers
▸ Develop strategies about how to overcome them
Conducting Needs Assessments | October 3, 2012
Promoting awareness
▸ Create community buy-in before the assessment begins:
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Propose plan to community leaders
News releases
Letter from public official (s)
Post-card mailing
Flyers
Local events
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Assessment: sources of data
▸ Demographic data from existing sources
▸ Census; American Community Survey
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Focus groups
Conducting a sample survey
Key informant interviews
Each source of data has strengths, limitations,
challenges
Conducting Needs Assessments | October 3, 2012
Using demographic data
▸ Opportunities and examples
▸ Data from the decennial Census (latest was 2010) for every
community: age, race, sex, household composition, owner
occupied residence
▸ Data from the American Community Survey (conducted
annually). Available every year in one-year files (for the
largest communities); in three year files (for medium-sized
communities) and in five year files (for small communities)
Conducting Needs Assessments | October 3, 2012
Plymouth Town: 2010 Census
Owner occupancy for
householders age 60+
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Living arrangements
among people aged 65+
Age composition
Age distribution of
“Smithville”
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Age distribution of
Smithville senior center
participants
Learning more about your residents’ needs
% disabled (age 65+)
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Median household
income in Worcester
Conducting a survey
▸ Question Construction
▸ Length
▸ Sampling
▸ Online v. mail v. phone
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Focus groups
▸ Planning & Recruitment
▸ Facilitator’s role
▸ Questions
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Key informant interviews
▸ Selection of key informants
▸ Structure of the interviews
▸ Questions
▸ “Do you think your department works well with the Council on
Aging?”
▸ This prompts the person to consider the idea that maybe they don’t
work well with the COA.
▸ “Tell me about your department’s relationship with the Council on
Aging?”
▸ This questions allows the person to tell you all of the information about
the relationship with no implied bias
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Post-Assessment: analysis
▸ Response rate
▸ Analysis Basics
▸ Qualitative
▸ Quantitative
▸ Triangulation
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Post-Assessment: dissemination
▸ Dissemination of results:
▸ Final report
▸ News article
▸ Fact sheet
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Research Partnerships:
▸ Identify partners
▸ How can they help?
Things to keep in mind:
▸ Confirm the research entity as a credible organization.
▸ Determine how this research will support both your organization and
the research institution’s missions.
▸ Identify unique resources and agree upon which partners are
responsible for providing which resources (e.g., financial, human
capital, dissemination)
▸ Understand what is ethical and legal
Conducting Needs Assessments | October 3, 2012
Helpful Hints:
▸ Be clear about the PURPOSE of your assessment
▸ Have a detailed timeline and roadmap of the process
▸ Build in extra time
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Create awareness in the community
Consider research partners
Determine appropriate sources of data
Stay realistic
▸ NEED versus WANT
Conducting Needs Assessments | October 3, 2012
Available Resources:
▸ Kreuger & Casey (2009). Focus Groups: A Practical Guide for Applied
Research (4th ed.), Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
▸ Witkin, B. R., & Altschuld, J. W., (1995). Planning and conducting
needs assessments: A practical guide. Newbury Park, CA: Sage
Publications
Conducting Needs Assessments | October 3, 2012
Thank you!
Jan Mutchler: jan.mutchler@umb.edu
Caitlin Coyle caitlin.coyle001@umb.edu
Hayley Gravette, hayley.gravette001@umb.edu
http://www.umb.edu/academics/mgs/gerontology/
Conducting Needs Assessments | October 3, 2012