title: Community needs assessment to reach out to an underserved population.
abstract: A community-based participatory research project was conducted to identify health information needs of clients (an underserved population) at a homeless shelter. Staff at the shelter, medical students, and public librarians were sought as outreach partners; their needs and challenges in accessing health information resources to serve underserved populations were also assessed. The community needs assessment yielded results that helped shape a medical library's efforts in supporting medical students' service-learning activities related to humanistic education. The resulting data also informed library decisions on health information education outreach programs tailored to vulnerable, underserved populations and community partners serving the specific populations in the communities.
authors.affiliation: a Medical Library , Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine , Rochester , Michigan , USA.
authors.forename: Misa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mi
authors.forename: Jill
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stefaniak
authors.forename: Nelia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Afonso
mesh_terms: D022126:Access to Information; D000328:Adult; D055812:Community-Based Participatory Research; D003479:Curriculum; D005260:Female; D006703:Ill-Housed Persons; D006808:Humanism; D006801:Humans; D058980:Information Literacy; D007993:Libraries, Medical / Q000458:organization & administration*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017145:Models, Educational; D020380:Needs Assessment; D012577:Schools, Medical / Q000458:organization & administration*; D035862:Vulnerable Populations
keywords: Community-based participatory research; community outreach; consumer health; health information literacy; health sciences libraries; medical students; needs assessment; service-learning; underserved populations