Importance Of Needs Assessment Research Articles

Needs of Patients with Opioid Dependence

Context: There are more than ten thousand opioid-dependent patients visiting the study setting annually, depicting the serious public health issue associated with opioid use. The upheaval in all phases of life of a patient necessitates active involvement of both patient and caregiver. The importance of need assessment of patient by patients themselves and their caregivers need to be separately assessed to provide holistic care to patients. Aim: The aim of the study was to assess the needs of patients with opioid dependence syndrome as perceived by patients themselves and their family caregivers. Setting and Design: A comparative cross-sectional study conducted in a drug dependence treatment facility in India. Subjects and Methods: The needs of 105 opioid-dependent patients perceived by patients themselves and their family caregivers were assessed using Camberwell Assessment of Need Short Appraisal Schedule. Results: The most common unmet needs of patients as rated by patients themselves were physical health, money, and company. The most common unmet needs of patients rated by caregivers were money, looking after home and daytime activities. The agreement of needs of patient was poor in domains such as self-care (k = 0.17), looking after home (k = 0.16), company (k = 0.13), physical health (k = 0.10), money (k = 0.09), and psychological distress (k = 0.06). Conclusion: Addressing the needs of patients with opioid dependence might help in developing a more holistic management plan which will improve treatment outcomes. Nurses should be active part of communication system and fill the gap existing in the needs of patients.

The Need Assessment of Medical Students for a Complementary and Alternative Medicine Curriculum

Background: The increasing attention and trend towards complementary and alternative medicine and the usage of such treatments in different nations has highlighted the need for their insertion into the medical curriculum from the basic and clinical sciences courses up to in Continued Medical Education (CME) programs. The familiarity of physicians with complementary therapies is of great importance. The aim of this study was to determine the topics required in the general medical curriculum in the field of complementary and alternative medicine so that they can be further applied by educational planers and administrators. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. Regarding the importance of need assessment, at first the agreement-centric Delphi method was used by 15 faculty members and medical students (five faculty members of traditional medicine, five faculty members of clinical sciences and five students) in 3 rounds. With the distribution of open-response questions, the necessary topics in the field of complementary and alternative medicine were covered and after finalization, a structured questionnaire was prepared. In the next step the validity and reliability of the structured questionnaire was studied, then it was completed by 169 cases of the study population and the results were disclosed. Results: The following results were obtained on the needs of the medical curriculum regarding the alternative and complementary medicine: acupuncture: 80.5%; chiropractic: 66.85%, homeopathy: 63.99%, yoga/ tai chi/ spiritual healing/ relaxation: 87.56%, reflexology: 63.35%, hypnotherapy: 63.89%, herbal therapy: 80.46%, damp and dry cupping: 46.73% and massage therapy: 25.50%. Accordingly, the first priority was yoga/ tai chi/ spiritual healing/ relaxation whereas the last priority was massage therapy. Conclusion: The ultimate goal of complementary and alternative medicine training for medical students is to prepare them for a logical and informed encounter with an important challenge in medicine. Therefore, a change in the training programs of medical faculties seems necessary based on the need assessments having been performed in this respect.

The Importance of Needs Assessment for the Implementation of E-Learning in a Language Program

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INVESTIGATING THE OPINIONS OF MoNE STAFF ABOUT INSET PROGRAMS VIA DISTANCE EDUCATION

The aim of this study is to investigate the opinions of the Ministry of National Education (MoNE) staff about in-service training (INSET) programs via distance education. The subjects of this study were the staff (n=15) of the Inservice Training Department of MoNE in 2008. During the study, the qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews held with the (MoNE) staff by the researcher. The results of the interviews revealed the importance of needs assessment, the relationship between INSET program course content and participants’ school curriculum, support mechanism in INSET programs via distance education, the application of what is learned and providing various opportunities to them that lead to their active involvement to the application of these programs, the characteristics of learning environments for these programs, INSET instructors’ teaching competencies and skills to fulfill various roles in online learning environments, of measuring and evaluating the performance of teachers during INSET programs via distance education and of the effectiveness of INSET programs via distance education.

The Importance of Needs Assessment in Planning Health Promoting Schools Initiatives: Comparison of Youth Risk Behaviours of Two Districts in Hong Kong

A needs assessment is recommended to be carried out before planning resource allocation in a community as it could help to identify the needs of the people. This study illustrated the importance of needs assessment in planning health promoting school initiatives by comparing the results of youth risk behaviours surveys conducted at two districts of Hong Kong, namely Tsuen Wan and North District. The findings indicated that the two districts should prioritize their resources in respect to their urgent needs. A higher proportion of students from Tsuen Wan participated in vigorous exercise regularly in comparison to students from North District. Students from North District consumed more vegetable per week and exhibited less depressive symptoms than students from Tsuen Wan. The availability of data on youth risk behaviours of the two districts would provide information for strategic planning and direct decision-making in youth health programmes.

Addressing the HIV / AIDS Epidemic in Michigan & Beyond: The Importance of Needs Assessment & Context

For approximately the last twenty years, HIV/AIDS has been impacting individuals, their families, and the communities in which we all live and work. The people coping with this disease are our mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, aunts and uncles, wives and husbands, chosen family, and others that we love. Yet, this disease does not equally affect all people: Adolescents, women, gay and bisexual men, and minorities are disproportionately affected by this disease. Therefore, education remains a primary tool for how we address HIV/AIDS (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2002; AIDS Epidemic Update, 2001). It is imperative that Health Care Reform contextualize HIV/AIDS education so that the diverse information needed by individuals and their families as well as policy makers is heard and acted upon in order to slow this global epidemic.An International & National OverviewAn estimated 40 million people are infected with HIV/AIDS worldwide. From the beginning of the epidemic around 1980 to the end of 2001, more than 60 million people have been infected globally. HIV/AIDS is at pandemic levels in sub-Sahara Africa, where it is the leading cause of death (AIDS Epidemic Update, December 2001).In the United States, approximately half a million people have died of HIV/AIDS during the past two decades; however, the number of people infected every year has remained at about 40,000 for the past several years. By the end of 2000, the number of people who died each year in the United States from HIV/AIDS declined to approximately 15,500. This decline in the death rate is thought to be due to new treatments that prolong life for those with HIV/AIDS. Due to this intervention, over 850,000 people are currently living with HIV infection in the United States (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Morbidity and Mortality Report, 1999; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2001).HIV/AIDS in MichiganMore people are living with HIV/AIDS in Michigan each year. Between the years 1990 to 1996, approximately 1,200 people were newly infected annually with HIV/AIDS in Michigan. The infection rate declined slightly to approximately 825 people in 2000. Today, it is estimated that 15,500 residents of Michigan are living with HIV infection (Michigan Department of Community Health, 2002). Statistics have remained fairly constant from 1996 to 2000 regarding the different ethnic and sex groups who may contract HIV in Michigan, as well as the varied modes of transmission (Michigan Department of Community Health, 2002).Men outnumber women with HIV or AIDS in Michigan, with 8,090 men and 2,388 women reporting living with HIV or AIDS as of January 2002. This number represents approximately a four to one infection rate of men versus women in the state. For men, the modes of transmission listed from greatest to least are as follows:* Male-male sex (57%)* Injecting drug use (14%)* Male-male sex with injecting drug use (7%)* Heterosexual (5%)* Blood recipient (1%)* Perinatal [in womb] (1%)* Undetermined (15%)For women overall, the modes of transmission listed from greatest to least are as follows:* Heterosexual (39%)* Injecting drug use (31 %)* Perinatal [in womb] (3%)* Blood recipient (1%)* Undetermined (26%).Estimates of the number of Michigan residents living with HIV or AIDS as of January 2002 by ethnic background indicate the following distribution (Michigan Department of Community Health, 2002; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2002):* Black, non-Hispanic= 8,990* White, non-Hispanic= 5,580* Hispanic = 470* Asian = 130* American Indian = 130.The number of people in Michigan who have died of HIV-related causes declined by approximately two-thirds between 1995 and 2000 (Michigan Department of Community Health, 2002). The period of sharpest decline was from 1996 to 1997, because of the availability of new treatment regimens, followed by a slight decline in the death rate from 1998 to 2000 (Michigan Department of Community Health, 2002; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2001). …