title: Assets-oriented community assessment.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Prevention Research Center at the University of South Carolina School of Public Health, Columbia 29208, USA. pasharpe@sph.sc.edu
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Sharpe
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Greaney
authors.forename: P R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: S W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Royce
mesh_terms: 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