Windshield Survey Essay

Windshield Survey Essay

You will be working on this project for Modules 7 and 8. You must go out into your community to complete the windshield survey! This project cannot be completed by doing online research. For the paper, make sure interviews are cited as personal communication.

Defining the Community

Your community can be a pediatric, adolescence, young adults, adult, elderly or a combination.

Clearly delineate the following dimensions before starting the process of community assessment:

Describe the population that is being assessed?
What is/are the race(s) of this population within the community?
Are there boundaries of this group? If so, what are they?
Does this community exist within a certain city or county?
Are there general characteristics that separate this group from others?
Education levels, birth/death rates, age of deaths, insured/uninsured?
Where is this group located geographically…? Urban/rural?
Why is a community assessment being performed? What purpose will it serve?
How will information for the community assessment be collected?
Assessment

After the community has been defined, the next phase is assessment. The following items describe several resources and methods that can be used to gather and generate data. These items serve as a starting point for data collection. This is not an all-inclusive list of resources and methods that may be used when a community assessment is conducted.

The time frame for completion of the assessment may influence which methods are used. Nonetheless, these items should be reviewed to determine what information will be useful to collect about the community that is being assessed. It is not necessary to use all of these resources and methods; however, use of a variety of methods is helpful when one is exploring the needs of a community.

Important information for writing discussion questions and participation

Welcome to class

Hello class and welcome to the class and I will be your instructor for this course. This is a -week course and requires a lot of time commitment, organization, and a high level of dedication. Please use the class syllabus to guide you through all the assignments required for the course. I have also attached the classroom policies to this announcement to know your expectations for this course. Please review this document carefully and ask me any questions if you do. You could email me at any time or send me a message via the “message” icon in halo if you need to contact me. I check my email regularly, so you should get a response within 24 hours. If you have not heard from me within 24 hours and need to contact me urgently, please send a follow up text to

I strongly encourage that you do not wait until the very last minute to complete your assignments. Your assignments in weeks 4 and 5 require early planning as you would need to present a teaching plan and interview a community health provider. I advise you look at the requirements for these assignments at the beginning of the course and plan accordingly. I have posted the YouTube link that explains all the class assignments in detail. It is required that you watch this 32-minute video as the assignments from week 3 through 5 require that you follow the instructions to the letter to succeed. Failure to complete these assignments according to instructions might lead to a zero. After watching the video, please schedule a one-on-one with me to discuss your topic for your project by the second week of class. Use this link to schedule a 15-minute session. Please, call me at the time of your appointment on my number. Please note that I will NOT call you.

Please, be advised I do NOT accept any assignments by email. If you are having technical issues with uploading an assignment, contact the technical department and inform me of the issue. If you have any issues that would prevent you from getting your assignments to me by the deadline, please inform me to request a possible extension. Note that working fulltime or overtime is no excuse for late assignments. There is a 5%-point deduction for every day your assignment is late. This only applies to approved extensions. Late assignments will not be accepted.

If you think you would be needing accommodations due to any reasons, please contact the appropriate department to request accommodations.

Plagiarism is highly prohibited. Please ensure you are citing your sources correctly using APA 7th edition. All assignments including discussion posts should be formatted in APA with the appropriate spacing, font, margin, and indents. Any papers not well formatted would be returned back to you, hence, I advise you review APA formatting style. I have attached a sample paper in APA format and will also post sample discussion responses in subsequent announcements.

Your initial discussion post should be a minimum of 200 words and response posts should be a minimum of 150 words. Be advised that I grade based on quality and not necessarily the number of words you post. A minimum of TWO references should be used for your initial post. For your response post, you do not need references as personal experiences would count as response posts. If you however cite anything from the literature for your response post, it is required that you cite your reference. You should include a minimum of THREE references for papers in this course. Please note that references should be no more than 5 years old except recommended as a resource for the class. Furthermore, for each discussion board question, you need ONE initial substantive response and TWO substantive responses to either your classmates or your instructor for a total of THREE responses. There are TWO discussion questions each week, hence, you need a total minimum of SIX discussion posts for each week. I usually post a discussion question each week. You could also respond to these as it would count towards your required SIX discussion posts for the week.

I understand this is a lot of information to cover in 5 weeks, however, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Even in times like this, we are encouraged by God’s word that we have that ability in us to succeed with His strength. I pray that each and every one of you receives strength for this course and life generally as we navigate through this pandemic that is shaking our world today. Relax and enjoy the course!

Hi Class,

Please read through the following information on writing a Discussion question response and participation posts.

Contact me if you have any questions.

Important information on Writing a Discussion Question

• Your response needs to be a minimum of 150 words (not including your list of references)
• There needs to be at least TWO references with ONE being a peer reviewed professional journal article.
• Include in-text citations in your response
• Do not include quotes—instead summarize and paraphrase the information
• Follow APA-7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

Participation –replies to your classmates or instructor

• A minimum of 6 responses per week, on at least 3 days of the week.
• Each response needs at least ONE reference with citations—best if it is a peer reviewed journal article
• Each response needs to be at least 75 words in length (does not include your list of references)
• Responses need to be substantive by bringing information to the discussion or further enhance the discussion. Responses of “I agree” or “great post” does not count for the word count.
• Follow APA 7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

• Remember to use and follow APA-7th edition for all weekly assignments, discussion questions, and participation points.
• Here are some helpful links
• The is a great resource

Data Gathering (collecting information that already exists)

Demographics of the Community

When demographic data are collected, it is useful to collect data from a variety of levels so comparisons can be made.
If the population that is being assessed is located within a specific setting, it may be best to contact that agency to retrieve specific information about that population.
The following resources provide a broad overview of the demographics of a city, county, or state:
American Fact Finder—Find population, housing, and economic and geographic data for your city based on U.S. Census data
State and County Quick Facts—Easy access to facts about people, business, and geography, based on U.S. Census data
Obtain information about a specific city or county on these useful websites www.epodunk.com and www.city-data.com
Information from Government Agencies

Healthy People 2020—this resource is published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It identifies health improvement goals and objectives for the country to be reached by the year 2020
National Center for Health Statistics—this agency is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; this website provides statistical information about the health of Americans
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—The CDC website contains a large amount of information related to the health of the American population. The search engine within this website can be used to find relevant information
Federal agencies with statistical programs
Every state in the United States has its own specific health improvement plan and goals that are based on the Healthy People 2020 document. This information may be available on the state health department website.
State and local health departments provide information related to vital statistics for the community.
Other Data Sources

America’s Health Rankings—this website provides information about various health indicators for each state: https://www.americashealthrankings.org/
Other relevant data sources may be found by conducting an Internet search related to the topic that is being examined through the community assessment.
After data are collected from various sources, it is important to review the information and to identify assets and areas for improvement in the community by comparing local data (if available) versus state and national data. This will facilitate organization of the information that has already been obtained and will provide direction for the next step of the process.

Data Generation (data are developed that do not already exist):

Windshield Surveys

With the use of public transportation or by driving a vehicle around the community, one can observe common characteristics of the community.

Examples of key observations to make when one is assessing the community through a windshield survey include the following:

Age of the homes in the community
Location of parks and other recreational areas
Amount of space between homes and businesses
Neighborhood hangouts
Transportation in the community
Quality and safety of streets and sidewalks
Stores and other businesses
People out in the community
Cleanliness of the community
Billboards or other media displays
Places of worship
Healthcare facilities
Participant Observation

Spend time observing the population that is being assessed. Through observation of interactions among group members, much can be learned about the community, including the following:

Developmental level of the population
Effectiveness of peer-to-peer interactions
Respect for peers and others
Safety in the environment
Economic status
Informant Interviews

Informants could be people who are familiar with and interact with the population on a regular basis.

Examples of questions that may be asked of key informants include the following:

Strengths/assets of the community
Areas of improvement for the community
Concerns of community members
Access to health care
Emergency plans for natural or man-made disasters
Focus Groups

Focus groups (usually small groups of 6-12 people) can be helpful when one is gathering information about specific areas of concern within the population. Use of a focus group involves open dialogue about the population, whereas an interview or survey yields only individual responses.

Focus groups may be effective for assessing the following:
Satisfaction with services provided
Community resources used
Transportation issues within the community
Safety within the community
General concerns of members of the population
Surveys

Surveys may be used to collect data from the community. Selecting a sample of the target population may prove helpful in the collection of data that are easier to analyze. It is important to ensure that the sample is representative of the target population.

A survey should be developed that takes into consideration the developmental level of the group that is being assessed. Questions should be written at the appropriate developmental level, so they are answered in a way that makes the data useful. Surveys might include closed-ended (yes/no), multiple choice (several responses to choose from), Likert scale (Strongly Agree/Agree/Neutral/Disagree/Strongly Disagree), or open-ended (“why”/“how”) questions.

Topics that may be addressed in a survey include the following:

Demographic information
Status of employment
Safety within community
Safety in environment
Personal safety (seatbelts, helmets, etc.)
Stressors/stress management patterns
Risky behaviors
Support systems
Volunteer/community activities
Rest patterns
Nutrition
Dental hygiene
Health promotion activities
Level 1 headings are centered and bold. Level 2 headings are bold and at the left margin. Your submission should be a minimum of 2000 words (maximum 2500 words) in length and should completely answer the proposed questions as listed under “Define the community.” You should have a minimum of three (3) references.

APA formatting required and all responses should be combined into a single document for submission. Use the rubric as a guide for the evaluation method of the project.