title: Conducting a Hispanic Health Needs Assessment in rural Kansas: building the foundation for community action.
abstract: Healthy People 2020 states ethnic health disparities are a priority for the US. Although considerable national statistics document ethnic-related health disparities, information specific to rural areas is scarce and does not provide direction for implementing chronic disease prevention programming. Therefore, the purpose of our project was to use the Hispanic Health Needs Assessment (HHNA), a tool designed by the National Alliance for Hispanic Health (NAHH), in culturally diverse, rural Southwest Kansas. Our focus areas included: access to healthcare, heart disease, diabetes, overweight, nutrition, and physical activity.
  
  
  METHODS
  The assessment followed six steps: (1) developing the assessment team, (2) data gathering using community member surveys, existing statistics and community leader interviews, (3) assembling the findings, (4) formulating recommendations for action at individual, institutional, community and policy levels, (5) sharing findings and program planning, and (6) sharing findings with NAHH. We identified several challenges collecting health related data in rural communities, but overall, the HHNA was a comprehensive and useful tool for guiding a community level health assessment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This process has provided our community partners with locally relevant statistics regarding the current status of health, health behaviors, and perceived community needs to inform resource allocation, program planning and applications for new funding initiatives.
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, United States. mjb73@psu.edu
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bopp
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Fallon
authors.forename: Debra J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Bolton
authors.forename: Andrew T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Kaczynski
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lukwago
authors.forename: Alicia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brooks
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006304:Health Status; D054625:Healthcare Disparities; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D007615:Kansas; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020380:Needs Assessment / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012424:Rural Population; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult