Chapter 7: Community Health Planning & Evaluation

Community Health Planning & Evaluation details the Health Planning Model, which applies the systematic nursing process to aggregates and populations through a systems framework. This process begins with a multifaceted assessment that considers sociodemographic characteristics, health status indicators like morbidity and mortality, and suprasystem influences, often utilizing key informants and various data collection methods to identify expressed, normative, perceived, and relative needs. Effective planning requires the development of mutual goals and measurable objectives, emphasizing collaboration and community empowerment to ensure interventions are sustainable and relevant. The text explains the application of primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention strategies across different system levels, including subsystems, the aggregate system, and the broader suprasystem. Key public health planning models are analyzed, such as the PRECEDE-PROCEED framework—which evaluates predisposing, enabling, and reinforcing factors—alongside the PATCH, APEX-PH, and MAPP models. Furthermore, the chapter reviews the significant impact of federal health legislation on nursing practice, from historical mandates like the Hill-Burton Act and Regional Medical Programs to modern regulatory measures like the Certificate of Need and the Affordable Care Act. Through clinical examples, the discussion illustrates how nurses can address upstream causes of health disparities, advocating for policy changes and professional involvement in the political process to improve population health outcomes. By integrating these theoretical models and legislative insights, nursing professionals are better equipped to lead health promotion efforts and manage the complexities of community-based care delivery.