Needs Identification and
Assessment
HPR 322
Chapter 5
Perhaps the most important
thing….
 Needs assessment/program
philosophy assignment due date
October 15, 2013
Program Name, Vision (optional),
Mission, Needs Assessment, Goals
and Objectives
 A lot of information to cover to help
you prepare the assignment.
Why do a Needs Assessment?
 Understand the behavior of the
consumers
 Become aware of interests, opinions,
attitudes, habits, desires, knowledge
of leisure, abilities, limitations
 What services and facilities are
currently available?
 What is the current use by
consumers?
Evaluative questions....
 Who is to be served?
 What strategies should be used to
serve them?
 How will programs be organized and
implemented?
 What results will be achieved? (What
are the Goals and Objectives?)
 See Figure 5.1 pg 129
Basic Concepts to consider for
effective programming
 Needs
 Wants
 Values
 Attitudes
 Needs identification
 Needs assessment
Needs - Physical, Psychological
or Social Imbalance
 Physical/Physiological - Needs for Food,
Water, Sex , Sleep
 Psychological/Social - Companionship,
Social Interaction, Safety, Love, SelfEsteem, Self-Worth, Self-Actualization,
Recognition, Power, Achievement
 Individuals and Communities, Regions,
Nations and Societies have these Needs
Play is a Universal Need
 "Man does not cease to play because
he grows old - he grows old because
he ceases to play." George Bernard Shaw
 Leisure needs occur when people lack
the opportunity for play, access to
leisure spaces, opportunities for
meaningful social interaction,
freedom, and the opportunity to
choose; "to experience leisure"
Conceptual Frameworks for
Needs
 Maslow - Not great to use for leisure
needs - Some overlapping in the
heirarchy - operationally awkward
when referring to leisure needs - pg 144
 Brill, 1973 - Total Person (Holistic) pg 145
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Emotional, Physical, Social, Intellectual, Spiritual
Also difficult to use when planning programs
Leisure providers must consider interests, abilities, wants, values,
attitudes, gender, age, cultural background, resources, etc. Table
5-6 pg 145
Wants
 Desire - Perceived to be needed
 Not necessary to sustain life or wellbeing
 When individuals want to participate
in a leisure activity they perceive that
it is beneficial
 "Wanting to" and participating in an
activity may not meet a need but
may be beneficial
Values - Principle,
Guideline,Standard of Quality
 What an individual or community
considers to be worthwhile
 Value judgments determine relative
worth
 Status, Emotional, etc
 The degree to which they are dedicated
to pursue it
 How much are they willing to sacrifice or
pay to pursue it?
Attitude - Feeling or State of Mind
(like leisure has been described)
 Like values - Emotionally charged,
Complex, may or may not be linked
to actual behavior or actions
 Understanding how individuals feel
about their leisure can tell us what
they would like to do in their leisure
How do we determine what is
needed???
 Use one or more than one way
 Telephone survey
 Written survey
 Online survey (cheaper if possible to do)Could
use Facebook or other social networking
Focus Group
Interview
Town meeting; board/member meeting
“Suggestion Box;” comments received on
evaluations of other programs; unsolicited
communications
 Client assessments in Therapeutic Recreation
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Preferences?
 What do you think
is most effective?
Why? Why not?
 How would you
prefer to be
contacted?
 What type of
contact are you
most likely to
respond to?
Timely information
 As mentioned before, the needs
assessment is helpful to do BEFORE
planning programming
 Determine participants’ (or potential
participants’) needs, wants, values, availability,
priorities, limitations, constraints, etc., etc.
 For the purposes of this assignment, we did
not following that sequence because it is an
assignment and you will be designing the
assessment tool and not implementing it
Timely information cont’d
 Realistically, you will probably have some
idea of what programming you can offer
before any needs assessment:
 Limitation due to facilities and equipment
 Limitations due to staff, instructor expertise
 Limitations due to participant characteristics or
demographics
 “Real World” needs assessment might
specify available options – if you have
limitations, it is probably wise to do so.
“Need” vs. “Want”
 Back to earlier
discussion – is
recreation ever a
“need?”
 “Creating” needs –
like advertisers do
 Recreation, public
or private, is
competing for $ and
time
Developing a Needs Assessment –
example from Edginton, et al, text
 Identify scope and depth of
opportunities available
 Identify activities in which individuals
say they participate
 Identify activities which individuals do
not currently but would like to
participate
 Identify what facilities and programs
should be developed
Developing, cont’d
 Determine what individuals believe is the
present effectiveness and efficiency of
the entity in providing services
 Determine what factors influence initial
and repeat participation in services and
facilities offered by entity
 Identification and definition of barriers
that prevent participation in services and
facilities operated by the entity
Developing, cont’d
 Identification of demographic information
useful in predicting leisure behavior
 Keep on top of trends, e.g., older
adults more and more interested in
active and challenging activities
 Identification of “psychographic” (lifestyle)
variables useful in predicting leisure
behavior of area residents (e.g., lots of golf
in south Florida; interest in evening
programming in areas where most residents
work all day)
Developing cont’d
 Identification of current time use of
residents of the area with an eye
toward understanding patterns of
leisure time use
 Might turn up a need for ‘leisure
education,’ programming that helps
people develop awareness of, interest in,
skills related to leisure, etc.
Broad vs. Specific
 Our project is just one program
within an organization, so the
assigned assessment only refers to
that program
 Don't make your assessment too
broad for your assignment purposes
What do we want to find out?
Some thoughts….
 Who – name, address, sex, age, etc. of
interviewee
 Family status, family information
 Day/time availability or preference
 Level of financial commitment (how
much would you be willing to spend for
this program?)
 Current participation patterns (maybe)
What do we want to find out?
More thoughts….
 Owns or will purchase equipment if needed
 Willing to travel how far for programming
 Access to transportation, if needed and means if
applicable (if they rely on the bus, does the bus
schedule work with your program?)
 Desired length/duration of program
 Generally assume holidays may be a problem.
 Some seasons are better (summer vs. school
year)
 Time of day dependent on other life issues