CHES Needs Assessment and Capacity 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A CHES specialist identifies that a community's health problem stems from inadequate social support networks. This reflects which level of the Social Ecological Model?
- Individual level
- Interpersonal level (Correct answer)
- Community level
- Policy level
Correct answer: Interpersonal level
Social support networks — family, friends, and peer relationships — operate at the interpersonal level of the Social Ecological Model.
Question 2: When conducting a key informant interview for a needs assessment, which question type yields the MOST actionable information about community health needs?
- Yes/no questions about service availability
- Open-ended questions about perceived barriers and priorities (Correct answer)
- Questions that confirm the health educator's existing hypotheses
- Closed-ended questions about demographic characteristics
Correct answer: Open-ended questions about perceived barriers and priorities
Open-ended questions allow key informants to share nuanced perspectives on barriers, needs, and priorities that structured questions might miss.
Question 3: A needs assessment report recommends that a health education program target 'predisposing factors.' Based on the PRECEDE-PROCEED model, which of the following is a predisposing factor?
- Availability of health clinics
- Community health policy mandates
- Individuals' beliefs and attitudes toward vaccination (Correct answer)
- Skills training workshops for health educators
Correct answer: Individuals' beliefs and attitudes toward vaccination
Predisposing factors in PRECEDE-PROCEED include knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, values, and perceptions that motivate or discourage health behaviors.
Question 4: Which of the following BEST illustrates an expressed need identified during a community needs assessment?
- A health department determines that hypertension rates exceed national benchmarks
- Community members use health services at a rate higher than neighboring counties
- Residents sign a petition requesting a community mental health center (Correct answer)
- A survey reveals that most residents feel stressed but do not seek help
Correct answer: Residents sign a petition requesting a community mental health center
Expressed need is demonstrated through action — such as petitions, service utilization, or formal requests — not just perception or professional judgment.
Question 5: A health educator discovers that 40% of survey respondents skipped questions about substance use, resulting in incomplete data. This is MOST likely an example of:
- Sampling bias
- Social desirability bias and item nonresponse (Correct answer)
- Confirmation bias
- Recency bias
Correct answer: Social desirability bias and item nonresponse
Skipping sensitive questions often results from social desirability bias, where respondents avoid topics they find stigmatizing — causing item nonresponse.
Question 6: In a needs assessment, the health educator calculates the 'years of potential life lost' (YPLL) for several health conditions. This metric is MOST useful for:
- Estimating program implementation costs
- Identifying conditions that cause premature mortality in the population (Correct answer)
- Measuring community satisfaction with health services
- Comparing treatment effectiveness across interventions
Correct answer: Identifying conditions that cause premature mortality in the population
YPLL measures the impact of premature death by quantifying the years lost before a standard age, highlighting conditions with the greatest burden on younger populations.
Question 7: A health educator reviewing focus group data notices that one participant dominated the conversation and others did not share their views. Which focus group facilitation technique should have been used to prevent this?
- Increasing the group size to 20+ participants
- Using a round-robin or structured turn-taking approach (Correct answer)
- Eliminating the moderator to reduce bias
- Replacing focus groups with individual surveys
Correct answer: Using a round-robin or structured turn-taking approach
Round-robin or structured turn-taking techniques ensure all participants have equal opportunity to contribute and prevent dominant voices from skewing the data.
CHES Needs Assessment and Capacity 5
A CHES specialist identifies that a community's health problem stems from inadequate social support networks.
This reflects which level of the Social Ecological Model?