2. DEFINITIONS
• Community diagnosis is the process of appraising the health status of
the community, including the assembly of vital statistics and other
health related statistics and information relating to the determinants
of health and the examination of these health determinants in a
specified community (Narayan and Khan 2008).
3. • Community diagnosis is a community based, community owned
process to assess the health, social and developmental status of the
community in order to initiate effective and efficient planning of
programmes which can enhance the health status of the community.
Community diagnosis is a multifaceted approach of collecting data in
the community in order to identify the needs and problems of the
community.
4. The Purpose of Community Diagnosis
Community diagnosis aims at understanding many facets of the community
which include:
• Culture
• Values and norms
• Leadership and power structure
• Helping patterns within the community
• Means of communication
• Important community institutions
• History of the community
5. Functions of Community Diagnosis
• Community diagnosis assists in developing a community-based, community-owned
and community directed process in order to analyse the health status of the
community.
• It is also used for assessing attitudes towards community health services and issues.
• It assists in establishing priorities and set goals and determine the course of action to
be taken to resolve needs and problems of the community.
• Community diagnosis can be used to provide a baseline data for measuring
improvement of health over time.
6. Benefits of Community Diagnosis for the
Community
• The benefits of community diagnosis include:
• Providing communities with an opportunity to participate in directing the
course of health services and delivery systems.
• It provides justification for budgetary improvement requests.
• It can also be a foundation of information for seeking grants and a tool for
public relations in the community.
• It provides at local level current health information and coordination
strategies at national level programmes
7. CONT.
• It helps the community to be involved in the development of health
strategies which are directly responsive to the needs of the
community.
• It provides for locally designed, implemented and monitored
programmes.
• Community leaders, organisations and local health institution provide
leadership to ensure that documented health problems are
addressed.
8. Data Collection Methods
• It is important to use more than one method in order to triangulate
information collected. Methods such as in-depth interviews, observation,
focus group discussion and questionnaire can be used to collect
information.
• Do not just interview people who are easier to reach such as those who
come to the clinic or live near the clinic. You may need to use random
sampling so that your data is not biased towards a certain group of people
in the community.
9. Qualitative and Quantitative Methods
• Quantitative research methods collect specific information and facts that
can be expressed as numbers. The numbers can be treated mathematically
to produce overall data for the community e.g., number of households with
latrines, number of children, and number of people who hold a particular
belief.
• Quantitative data can be obtained through observation, by looking for a
specific practice. Quantitative data can also be collected by using
questionnaires and interviews which ask closed question which are
answered in a specific way, with numbers by saying Yes or No to a
statement. For example do you agree that hand washing can prevent
cholera.
• Open-ended questions are asked like this, what do you think about the
causes of cholera
10. Cont.
• Qualitative research methods ask open-ended questions where the
community will answer in their own way. It gives rich insight of the community
you are researching on. But it difficulty to summarise data collected.
• The process of community diagnosis seeks to identify health problems in the
community by analysing health statistical data, community surveys, and
council perceptions.
11. Cont.
• Community diagnosis is a comprehensive assessment of the health
status of the community in relation to its social, physical and
biological environment. The purpose of community diagnosis is to
define existing problems, define existing problems, determine
available resources and set priorities for planning, implementation,
and evaluating health action by and for the community.
12. STEPS IN CONDUCTING COMMUNITY
DIAGNOSIS
• The initial step in the process of community diagnosis is to select the area
in which to conduct it. Through the local community leaders a committee
can be formed of various leadership roles. The basic steps of community
diagnosis are as follows:
1. Assemble the initiating group
2. Select the committee
3. Present the data to the committee
4. Discuss and define health problems
13. CONT.
5. Analyse behavioural risk factor survey
7. Distribute and analyse the stakeholder survey
8. Score or rank health problems
9. Design interventions
10Develop funding strategies
