COMMUNITY ASSESSMENT

Community Assessment Project

Dixie State University
Vivian Dinh, RN

COMMUNITY ASSESSMENT

Community Assessment Project

When thinking about a community, usually what comes in to mind is a group of
people in the same geographical sharing common interest, religion, and/or value. A
core definition of community as a group of people with diverse characteristics who are
linked by social ties, share common perspectives, and engage in joint action in
geographical locations or settings (MacQueen, 2001). The parameters that define a
community can be geopolitical like school districts, census tracts, zip codes, and
neighborhood; or phenomenological where people share a group perspective or identity
based on culture, values, history, interests, and goals (Nies & McEwen, 2011). The
important step to be able to improve the health and needs of the community required
assessment that can be done in a group of survey, online record, or observation. Ive
decided to assess the community where I live which is West Valley City. Through my
extensive research, Ive found many problems; but the one problem that had brought to
my attention was the increasing number of childhood obesity. According to the Center
for Disease Control and Prevention, childhood obesity carry into adulthood can cause
many health problems such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, stroke, cancer and
osteoarthritis. As a mom, I realize that its not easy to have your picky eater kids eat
certain vegetables and fruits, or stay away from unhealthy food. However, being able to
identify these problems can help assist in creating an intervention that can have a
positive outcome on the community.
Community Assessment and Analysis

COMMUNITY ASSESSMENT

After completed assessing the West Valley City community, I have learned many
things about my community that I wasnt aware of before. Similar to other community, I
found many good and bad things about my community. I was able to identify my
targeted group in the community to focus my intervention on.
Community Assessment
West Valley City population in 2013 was 133,579, making it the second-largest
city in Utah. According to the United States Census Bureau, the total area of the city is
35.5 square miles with 35.4 square miles of it is land area and 0.1 square miles is water.
West Valley City climate is usually warm in the summer when temperature usually in
above 70 degree Fahrenheit and can get quite cold in the winter time when the
temperature can be lower than 30 degree Fahrenheit. The air quality in West Valley is
above nation average; the daily air quality was 47 and max of 160 in 2013. There were
many days in the years that the air quality above 100 which is unhealthy for the
environments and potential hazard to the people in the community. Even though the air
quality was not so great, West Valley City is a fairly new and wonderful community
surround with many trees, parks, and scenery. The Oquirrh Mountains reign over the
city to the west, and the Jordan River distinguish the eastern boundary.
Compare to Utah state average, West Valley City Black race population
percentage above average, Hispanic race and foreign-born population percentage
significantly above stage average making it such a unique community. The average
income for a household in the West Valley city was $52,389, and the average income
per family was $54,724. The income per capita for the city was $17,934. Approximately
16.5% of families and 19.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including

COMMUNITY ASSESSMENT

27.7% are under the age of 18 and 8.7% are age 65 or over. West Valley City
population of 25 years and over was 75,149 with 78.1% high school graduate or higher,
13.1% bachelors degree or higher. There is Everest College, 4 public high schools with
Granger High and Hunter High are the two main high school of the city, 1 private high
school, 21 elementary/middle public school, 5 private elementary/middle school, 3
charter school.
There is Pioneer Valley Hospital that serves the immediate resident in the area,
and the community surrounds the city. There is the Ellis R. Ship Health Department
Clinics that provide immunizations, child health evaluations and care, prenatal care,
womens cancer screening, Women and Infants and Children clinic, birth and death
certificates. There also is the Utah Department of workforce services assisting in
workforce development, food, financial, childcare program, Medicaid program, and
Children Health Insurance Program. The West Valley City has 99,843 people with
health insurance coverage and 30,714 people with no health insurance coverage.
There are 15.7% current smokers in West Valley City higher than Utah average of 12.9
%. The West Valley City diabetes rate was about 4.3% of the population. West Valley
has lower death rate in coronary disease, but the death rate in lung cancer and diabetes
are higher in than the state average. The most recent record in 2013 showed that there
were 2,262 births and 631 deaths in West Valley City. According to the Utah health
department in 2011 record, the obesity percentage in the adult population in West Valley
City was 72.8%, a lot higher compare to the state of Utah average of 59.7%; that
leading to the top three cause of death in the West Valley City community are heart
disease, cancer and stroke.

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Target Population
According to Utah department of health in 2012, the childhood overweight and
obesity rate has been increasing significantly over the years in West Valley City, the
state of Utah, and national. I've decided to focus on the young and adolescent obesity
problem because I believe that if I can educate the young population about good
nutrition and healthy living, I can eliminate the long term effect of obesity which building
into the top causes of death among the community of heart disease, cancer, and stroke.
During the conversation that I have with Jason Finch, the curriculum director of
Monticello Academy, he had mention that childhood obesity had been a great concern
for school age children related to unhealthy habit of eating and lack of being active. He
had also mention that the healthy habits need to start young to have a great impact on
the children to prepare them for adulthood.
Problem Identification
From my interviewed with Jason Finch, and the assessment of the West Valley
City community, I've identified increasing obesity among the young and adolescent as
the significant problem in the community. Recent statistic showed that 1 in 3 kids in the
United States are overweight or obese (NIH). Approximately 22% of young people age
10-17 in West Valley City are overweight (Utah.gov, 2014). Accordingly to the CDC,
childhood obesity can have immediate as well as long-term health effects on the child.
The immediate health effects are high cholesterol, high blood pressure, sleep apnea,
and pre diabetes. As the obesity carrying to adulthood, the long-term health effects are
heart disease, diabetes, stroke, cancer, and osteoarthritis. Along with the physical

COMMUNITY ASSESSMENT

health effects on the children, obesity can also effects the children social and
psychological health such as body image, self-esteem, and suicidal ideation.
My diagnosis for the community of West Valley city is: Increased risk of heart
disease, cancer and stroke among the West Valley City related to childhood obesity as
demonstrated in the Utah Department of Health and from the interviewed with Jason
Finch the director of Monticello Academy Charter School.
Goal and Objectives
My goal is to educate school children about good nutrition, and healthy living
along with regular exercise. I would like for the children to identified good choice of food
and recognize what regular exercise can do for you in along term. My intervention is on
the primary prevention to protect the young population from developing a disease in the
first place. I would like to meet the Healthy People 2020 objective of reduce the
proportion of children and adolescent who are considered obese, increase the variety
and contribution of vegetables and fruits to the diets of the population age 2 years and
older, and reduce consumption of calories and from solid fats and added sugars in the
population age 2 years and older. My outcome objective is by 2016 school year to have
the obesity rate of the Monticello Academy Charter School decrease by 25%. My impact
objective is to have the Monticello Academy Charter School children age 5 and older to
be able to identified 3 to 5 different fruits and vegetables and type of regular exercise by
the end of my presentation.
Resources
Ive utilized the resources from the internet on children nutrition facts such as
choose my plate, kids health, CDC, National Institution of health, and healthy people to

COMMUNITY ASSESSMENT

created a fun game, PowerPoint and pamphlet for the third grade students. Ive also
talked to the teacher from the third grader class to be able to identify the knowledge
base of the students about nutrition to be able to get them more involve in my lectures.
Constraints
The biggest constraint that Im running into was to be creative in my lecture. I like to
make the lecture fun, and at the same time educating that the children can recall the
information that I present to them at the end of my lecture. I find that its quite difficult to
keep the lecture short and get all the students participation with many questions.
Community Based Intervention
Schools play a particularly critical role by establishing a safe and supportive
environment with policies and practices that support healthy behaviors. Schools also
provide opportunities for students to learn about and practice healthy eating and
physical activity behaviors (CDC, 2014).
My intervention was to educate the students about good nutrition and healthy
living habit to eliminate increasing rate of childhood obesity. I believe if we can make
eating healthy fun and colorful, it can definitely encourage the children to try more
healthy food. I presented my nutrition teaching for a third grade class at Monticello
Academy with a fun and colorful PowerPoint included song about nutrition and
questions for the students to participate in my lectures. I have also host bingo game
with prizes on healthy food. Last but not least, Ive made a pamphlet for the students to
take home to their parents that include nutrition facts, and resources to practice healthy
living at home with a healthy green smoothies recipe as a start.
Conclusions

COMMUNITY ASSESSMENT

Completing the assessment on the West Valley City community was a learning
experience for me. Ive come to learn many new things about my community. I believe
that I was able to identify significant problem in my community through research, and
support my intervention with rely evidence and resource through the government online.
Childhood obesity might not appear as a problem at the moment, but education on
healthy living is the key prevention for problems from childhood obesity to develop into
adulthood diseases.

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Cites

American FactFinder - Community Facts. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/community_facts.xhtml
Clinic Locations - Health Department - Salt Lake County. (n.d.). Retrieved April 14,
2015, from http://slcohealth.org/html/clinicLocations.html
Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2014, December 11). CDC - Obesity Facts - Adolescent and School Health. Retrieved April 14, 2015, from
http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/obesity/facts.htm
Granite School District From here, anything's possible. (n.d.). Retrieved April 14,
2015, from

http://www.graniteschools.org/

Kathleen M. MacQueen, Eleanor McLellan, David S. Metzger, Susan Kegeles, Ronald

P. Strauss, Roseanne Scotti, Lynn Blanchard, and Robert T. Trotter, II. What Is
Community? An Evidence-Based Definition for Participatory Public Health.
American Journal of Public Health: December 2001, Vol. 91, No. 12, pp. 19291938.doi: 10.2105/AJPH.91.12.1929
Nies, M.A., & McEwen, M. (2011). Community/Public Health Nursing: Promoting the
Health of Populations. (5th Ed.). Saint Louis, MO: Elsevier Saunders.
State Health Facts | The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. (n.d.). Retrieved April 14,
2015, from http://www.statehealthfacts.org
US Environmental Protection Agency. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://epa.gov
West Valley City Utah. (n.d.). Retrieved February 28, 2015, from http://www.wvc-ut.gov/
West Valley City Weather | West Valley City UT | Conditions, Forecast, Average. (n.d.).
Retrieved from http://www.idcide.com/weather/ut/west-valley-city.htm

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West Valley City, Utah - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved April 14,
2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Valley_City,_Utah
West Valley City, Utah (UT 84120) profile: population, maps, real estate, averages,
homes, statistics, relocation, travel, jobs, hospitals, schools, crime, moving,
houses, news, sex offenders. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.citydata.com/city/West-Valley-City-Utah.html

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