Transcript Class 5: Community Assessment

Intervening in Social
Conditions: action, development,
and planning approaches
Week 8:
UTA SSW
Generalist Macro Practice
Professor Dick Schoech
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Summary of Classes 1-8
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Generalist macro practice history, change
process, roles, levels of intervention
Theories, values, perspectives
The community as client
Social conditions as
problems/opportunities
Assessing social conditions/communities
Intervening in social conditions
Administrative practices
Steps in an Assessment
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Identify the condition of concern
Listening to stakeholders
Developing a vision and guiding principles
Design assessment
Collect/analyze data/information on problem,
community, services, evidence
Identify needs, barriers, capacities from assessment
Develop intervention plan (goals and objectives)
Recommend on solution
Learning Objectives of Class
Learn
to write needs statements
Learn to write capacities statements
Learn how to prioritize needs
Learn 3 intervention approaches
 Action
 Planning
 Development
Writing Need Statements
 Include
what is needed & who has need
 Try to focus on outcomes, not process
 Write precisely & 1 need per statement
 Do not include how need will be met
 Examples
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Poor: A clinic for teens is need to prevent drug
abuse (poor because solution is included)
Better: drug abuse among teens needs to be
prevented (good because many solutions could
lead to the outcome of drug abuse prevention)
Writing Capacities Statements
 Identify
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Example: The majority of citizens indicated a
willingness to volunteer time monthly to address this
condition
 Identify
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the capacities of associations
The PTA has a task group studying this condition
 Identify
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the capacities of individuals
the capacities of institutions
5 agencies provide services that address this
condition
Needs Prioritization
 Targets
change where it is most needed
 Gains momentum for implementation
 Involves those affected by change
 Includes the politics of change
Need Prioritization Process
Process
should be described
Several possible methods
 Technical
by staff
 Group consensus or vote
 Mathematical rating process
 Political deliberations
Method 1:
Technical by Staff
Advantages
 Easy
& quick
 True to data
Disadvantages
 Loses
momentum
for implementation
 Narrow perspective
 Does not include
politics
Method 2:
Process
Group/committee
Advantages
 May
include
politics
 Can build on
vision & principles
 Easy and quick
Disadvantages
 Most
verbal
members dominate
 Institutions will
protect their turf
Method 3:
Mathematical
Advantages
 More
objective
 More true to
data
 Includes criteria
(course pack)
Disadvantages
 Does
not include
power politics
 May not be sellable
Method 4:
Political/involve public
Advantages
 Most
sellable
 Could be
difficult,
depending on
politics
Disadvantages
 Most
biased
 May not change
system much
 Can be divisive
 Could be time
consuming
Intervention Approaches
 Similar
to DP treatment modalities, e.g., CBT
 Three traditional or common approaches
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Planning (link) (adv/disadvantages in course pack)
Action (link) (adv/disadvantages in course pack)
Development (link) (adv/disadvantages in course pack)
 Others
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common approaches
Building coalition of loosely linked agencies
Services integration for a system of agencies
Policy/legislative approach for system wide change
Interventions can go wrong
Boot camp
 DARE
 HUD housing programs
 Scared straight
 Recovered memory techniques
Others
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Conclusion
 Need
statements focus on outcome, not service
or process
 Needs tell you where to focus help
 Capacities tell you how to help
 Select prioritization process based on situation-blended (math/political) good
 Needs assessment more developed than
capacities assessment
 CAP has 3 traditional approaches (much like
DP approaches to intervention)