A Critical Skill for the Future: Community Assessment

Graduates from baccalaureate programs should be prepared for an entry-level position in a public health agency; undergraduate curriculum should thus include instruction on those skills specific to public health nursing (Jones, Davis, & Madora, 1987). One of the important entry-level public health skills identified by the Association of Community Health Nursing Educators (ACHNE) is assessment (Task Force on Basic Community Health Nursing, 1990), yet its actual application in current baccalaureate nursing education is often limited (Dunn & Decker, 1990). At the 1990 ACHNE conference, it was noted that content at the baccalaureate level should include participation in health assessment data gathering and compilation (Task Force on Basic Community Health Nursing Education, 1990). If baccalaureate students are to develop a beginning understanding and skills in assessing a community, and if theoretical learning is to be applied to practical experience, the opportunity must be structured. Community health nursing faculty attempting to educate students about nursing of the community as client have been stymied by an individualistic mindset and by lack of opportunities for students to experience or even to observe such approaches (Spradley, 1990). Even when a particular population has been identified as the unit of care, care planning often consists of adapting models based on the care of the individual to care of the community. This method, although effective for organizing data, may obscure the impact of complex interactions (Dunn & Decker, 1990). A review of the literature reveals that in the last 15 years, numerous instruments or processes have been suggested to organize a assessment activity (Burgess & Ragland, 1983; Clark, 1992; Clemen-Stone, Eigsti, & McGuire, 1991; Cookfair, 1991; Dever, 1980; Helvie, 1981; Jarvis, 1985; Leahy, Cobb, & Jones, 1982; Nettles, Laboon, Jones, Pavelich, Pifer, & Beltz, 1989; Spradley, 1990; Stanhope & Lancaster, 1990; Swanson & Albrecht, 1993; Turner & Chavigny, 1988). The complexity of the activity of assessment initially caused health educators to view it as a graduate activity (Jones et al., 1987; Tinkham & Voorheis, 1979). As a result, many of the instruments that were developed are complex in ar-