health promotion

Community Windshield Survey

Purpose: The purpose of the community windshield survey is two folds. First for the student to familiarize his/her self with the community in which he/she lives. Secondly, as a result of the survey, he/she can identify and select a program for the Health Promotion at the Community or Population Level paper.

Directions: Utilize the information that you will gather through a variety of assessment tools (e.g. a windshield survey, personal research, web searches, or information gathered from the local health department, local hospitals, or local government) to complete this comprehensive community assessment and health promotion plan.

Please complete your community assessment and include the necessary components listed below. It is through the collection of this data that you can identify a program of interest.

Essential Components of Community Assessment:

Race and Ethnicity: Data and/or a description of the community demographics for the community. Be sure to identify any specific data that helps support the existence of your identified health problem or that may impact your health promotion project. Evaluate the racial identity of the community (e.g. Is the area well integrated?) Consider the following questions. Are there indices of ethnicity, various types of ethnic food stores, ethnic churches, private schools related to ethnicity, signs and information in a language other than English?

Culture: Analyze the cultural data and assess the cultural dynamics within the community that influence the community’s health beliefs or health status. This discussion should be very specific to the data and the current existing interventions that address the problem.

Religion: Include the various types of churches and places of worship. It would be beneficial to learn the number of available churches in the area, all of the different denominations and representation of differing religions, and the number of churches in a ratio comparison to the number of people in the community.

Politics: Determine if the community very swayed politically or predominantly of one party affiliation. Identify evidence of political activism, such as campaign signs, political billboards, or other evidence of political influence.

Boundaries: You may include the street boundaries for the community, as well as any physical demarcation that defines the community boundaries:
• Is it a natural boundary such as a river or a lake?
• Is it a man-made boundary such as train tracks?
• Is there a noticeable difference in the socioeconomic level in comparison to neighboring communities? Do the individual neighborhoods vary in socioeconomic status?

Housing and zoning: You may want to evaluate the typical single family, multi-family, alternative housing, and assisted living type homes for the area. A visual map showing the boundaries of the community is always helpful. Make a note of whether or not the residences have a large number of real estate signs on them. Supportive data could also include:
• any specific areas (and the size of the area) in which houses were in disrepair,
• how many homes were for sale,
• how many single family homes in comparison to multi-family dwellings or senior living complexes,
• average home market price,
• any data regarding proportion of young families with children compared to retirees
• Any changes in residency, recent trends in real estate (are the new construction homes build where previous existing homes were torn down? Or was there still available space in this established community?)

Open Space: Determine the open spaces throughout the community, including vacant lots, green spaces, undeveloped areas, nature areas, and parks. Supportive data could also include:
• How many open spaces, parks, or green spaces are available?
• Does the community appear to be focused on open space availability, parks, divided streets with trees or landscapes parkways?
• Are there minimum lot sizes?
• How many of these parks and green spaces are park district owned?
• How many of these are City owned?
• How many of these are State owned? Forest preserve district owned?
• Are the people really utilizing the available spaces?

“Commons”: Commons refers to areas or establishments in which people gather, socialize, spend leisure time, or use for recreation (e.g. walking, biking, and walking their dogs). What are the most popular neighborhood hangouts and what subgroup(s) of the population are drawn to those particular places to hang out? Supportive data may include:
• The “closed” hang out places that may be unfriendly to strangers or newcomers?
• Is there any gang activity?
• Popular bars or nightlife?
• Places that draw younger people (Jr. High, high school)?

Safety: Is the community safe? Environmental aspects or physical aspects that may compromise safety (e.g. community decay, traffic safety issues, road and sidewalk accessibility and quality, crime rates, lighting, safe drinking water, air quality). How do the community safety issues impact your identified community problem or issue?

Signs of community decay: Identify any areas of the community in which there is evidence of decline of resources, or community decay?
• Abandoned cars,
• Visible trash in the street,
• Levels of noticeable pollution,
• Abandoned houses, businesses, and unfinished structures (boarded up buildings),
• Increased available real estate,
• Increased numbers of homeless or panhandlers

Media: Identify the types of local media available for the community residents. Does the town have its own paper? Does the area have its own cable television station? What types of magazines and print materials are circulated? (These types of things you will usually find in the front of cafes and stores). Do you notice outdoor antennas or dishes?

Health and morbidity: Evaluate the vital statistics for the area. Is there any evidence of chronic health conditions? Include the major hospitals and identified that medical/dental/vision/addiction services were readily available. Are there any collected statistics and data to show how readily available healthcare services are in the community? How are the underinsured and uninsured people provided care or access care? Is there a specific health problem with a high incidence/prevalence rate in the community or a health problem within the community related to the environment (e.g. a problem of air pollution and high community rates of respiratory infection)?

Stores, Services and Service Centers: Evaluate the service industry in the area including various stores and businesses within the community, social service agencies, community outreach programs, recreation centers, e.g. a local YMCA, and other service industries. The community health nurse should analyze access to food, fitness, and health services availability.
• What is your evaluation of the availability of resources/stores?
• Are there many fast food restaurants in comparison to healthier restaurants?
• Is this considered a food desert?
• Are there significantly more entertainment options (movie theaters, bowling alleys, etc.) than green space?
• Are there a high number of fitness and exercise service centers?
• What is your evaluation of the services available?

Schools: Describe the educational system for the community including public, private, and alternative schools. Supportive evidence is helpful for the community nurse to make assessments about the community. Remember schools range from pre-schools to colleges and universities. Supportive data may include:
• How many schools are in the area and which level of student to they serve?
• How many private school options are there in this community? What types of private institutions are represented (religious affiliation, Montessori, academic driven)?
• What are the public schools rating/ranking?
• What is the high school graduation rate? How does it compare to the state or national averages?

Transportation: Include photos of cars, buses, trains, ferries, trolleys, bicycles, and pedestrians. Photos of people utilizing the various types of transportation would be appropriate for your windshield survey. Noting the safety measures (bike lanes, safe crosswalks, etc.) is helpful. Which type(s) of transportation seems to be the most predominant in the community?
• Is the public transportation accessible and provide good transportation options for community residents?
• Where is the closest/local airport?
• What are the major highways that are close to the area?

Assignment:

Write an APA formatted paper which describes the assessment data for your identified community. A title and reference paged is expected.

The grading rubric for the community windshield survey follows

Content Points Points Earned Comments
Introduction 5
Race/ethnicity 3
Culture 3
Religion 3
Politics 3
Boundaries 3
Housing and zoning 3
Open spaces 3
Common and social engagement 3
Safety 3
Signs of community decay 3
Media and information access 3
Community health and morbidity 3
Stores, services, and service centers 3
Schools 3
Transportation 3
Summary of assessment of community 5
Written communication skills
-Content, format, general flow of paper, etc. (2)
Terminology, spelling, grammar, etc. (1)
APA format (2) 5
Total Possible Points 60
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