title: Approaches for prioritising the nutritional needs of refugee communities.
abstract: An important part of health promotion planning is identifying priority areas for programs. A typical approach includes a needs assessment where a deficit-oriented approach captures problems within a community. Approaches that focus on strengths have emerged as potentially more appropriate and effective methods for program planning. This report describes the outcomes and learning from using both a deficit-oriented and strength-based approach for identifying and describing nutrition priorities of refugee communities. Focus groups (n=11) were conducted using both methods with a total of 69 community members from Afghan, Burmese and Sudanese backgrounds. Analysis of the focus group transcripts using a content analysis approach identified key influences on food choice and determinants of health and nutrition. There were differences in the type of information obtained from the deficit-oriented and strength-based approach. Although the strength-based approach was unfamiliar to participants and offered several challenges, it identified unique aspects of the communities that were not identified by the deficit-oriented approach, and could be used as the basis for planning community health promotion strategies. Elements of each method should be considered when designing community program planning strategies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Monash University, Clayton, Australia. claire.palermo@monash.edu
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Palermo
authors.forename: Clare
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Robinson
authors.forename: Kate
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Robertson
authors.forename: Shireen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hii
mesh_terms: D000346:Afghanistan / Q000208:ethnology; D003256:Community Participation; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000208:ethnology; D006292:Health Priorities; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D002052:Myanmar / Q000208:ethnology; D020380:Needs Assessment; D009749:Nutrition Surveys / Q000379:methods; D012036:Refugees; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013397:Sudan / Q000208:ethnology; D014739:Victoria