Assets-oriented community assessment.
Determining how to promote community health requires that community health workers first assess where the community stands. The authors maintain that Healthy Communities initiatives are better served by assets-oriented assessment methods than by standard "problem-focused" or "needs-based" approaches. An assets orientation allows community members to identify, support, and mobilize existing community resources to create a shared vision of change, and encourages greater creativity when community members do address problems and obstacles.
Sharpe
P A
PA
Prevention Research Center at the University of South Carolina School of Public Health, Columbia 29208, USA. pasharpe@sph.sc.edu
Greaney
M L
ML
Lee
P R
PR
Royce
S W
SW
D018672:Community Health Planning / Q000379:methods* / Q000458:organization & administration; D003405:Creativity; D017144:Focus Groups; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods* / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007857:Leadership; D008377:Maps as Topic; D020380:Needs Assessment; D009937:Organizational Objectives; D014481:United States