Functional Health Patterns Discussion

Functional Health Patterns Community Assessment Guide

Functional Health Pattern (FHP) Template Directions:

This FHP template is to be used for organizing community assessment data in preparation for completion of your collaborative learning community (CLC) assignment. Address every bulleted statement in each section with data or rationale for deferral. You may also add additional bullet points if applicable to your community.

Value/Belief Pattern

· Predominant ethnic and cultural groups along with beliefs related to health.

· Predominant spiritual beliefs in the community that may influence health.

· Availability of spiritual resources within or near the community (churches/chapels, synagogues, chaplains, Bible studies, sacraments, self-help groups, support groups, etc.).

· Do the community members value health promotion measures? What is the evidence that they do or do not (e.g., involvement in education, fundraising events, etc.)?

· What does the community value? How is this evident?

· On what do the community members spend their money? Are funds adequate?

Health Perception/Management

· Predominant health problems: Compare at least one health problem to a credible statistic (CDC, county, or state).

· Immunization rates (age appropriate).

· Appropriate death rates and causes, if applicable.

· Prevention programs (dental, fire, fitness, safety, etc.): Does the community think these are sufficient?

· Available health professionals, health resources within the community, and usage.

· Common referrals to outside agencies.

Nutrition/Metabolic

· Indicators of nutrient deficiencies.

· Obesity rates or percentages: Compare to CDC statistics.

· Affordability of food/available discounts or food programs and usage (e.g., WIC, food boxes, soup kitchens, meals-on-wheels, food stamps, senior discounts, employee discounts, etc.).

· Availability of water (e.g., number and quality of drinking fountains).

· Fast food and junk food accessibility (vending machines).

· Evidence of healthy food consumption or unhealthy food consumption (trash, long lines, observations, etc.).

· Provisions for special diets, if applicable.

· For schools (in addition to above):

· Nutritional content of food in cafeteria and vending machines: Compare to ARS 15-242/The Arizona Nutrition Standards (or other state standards based on residence)

· Amount of free or reduced lunch

Elimination (Environmental Health Concerns)

· Common air contaminants’ impact on the community.

· Noise.

· Waste disposal.

· Pest control: Is the community notified of pesticides usage?

· Hygiene practices (laundry services, hand washing, etc.).

· Bathrooms: Number of bathrooms; inspect for cleanliness, supplies, if possible.

· Universal precaution practices of health providers, teachers, members (if applicable).

· Temperature controls (e.g., within buildings, outside shade structures).

· Safety (committee, security guards, crossing guards, badges, locked campuses).

Activity/Exercise

· Community fitness programs (gym discounts, P.E., recess, sports, access to YMCA, etc.).

· Recreational facilities and usage (gym, playgrounds, bike paths, hiking trails, courts, pools, etc.).

· Safety programs (rules and regulations, safety training, incentives, athletic trainers, etc.).

· Injury statistics or most common injuries.

· Evidence of sedentary leisure activities (amount of time watching TV, videos, and computer).

· Means of transportation.

Sleep/Rest

· Sleep routines/hours of your community: Compare with sleep hour standards (from National Institutes of Health [NIH]).

· Indicators of general “restedness” and energy levels.

· Factors affecting sleep:

· Shift work prevalence of community members

· Environment (noise, lights, crowding, etc.)

· Consumption of caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, and drugs

· Homework/Extracurricular activities

· Health issues

Cognitive/Perceptual

· Primary language: Is this a communication barrier?

· Educational levels: For geopolitical communities, use http://www.census.gov and compare the city in which your community belongs with the national statistics.

· Opportunities/Programs:

· Educational offerings (in-services, continuing education, GED, etc.)

· Educational mandates (yearly in-services, continuing education, English learners, etc.)

· Special education programs (e.g., learning disabled, emotionally disabled, physically disabled, and gifted)

· Library or computer/Internet resources and usage.

· Funding resources (tuition reimbursement, scholarships, etc.).

Self-Perception/Self-Concept

· Age levels.

· Programs and activities related to community building (strengthening the community).

· Community history.

· Pride indicators: Self-esteem or caring behaviors.

· Published description (pamphlets, Web sites, etc.).

Role/Relationship

· Interaction of community members (e.g., friendliness, openness, bullying, prejudices, etc.).

· Vulnerable populations:

· Why are they vulnerable?

· How does this impact health?

· Power groups (church council, student council, administration, PTA, and gangs):

· How do they hold power?

· Positive or negative influence on community?

· Harassment policies/discrimination policies.

· Relationship with broader community:

· Police

· Fire/EMS (response time)

· Other (food drives, blood drives, missions, etc.)

Sexuality/Reproductive

· Relationships and behavior among community members.

· Educational offerings/programs (e.g., growth and development, STD/AIDS education, contraception, abstinence, etc.).

· Access to birth control.

· Birth rates, abortions, and miscarriages (if applicable).

· Access to maternal child health programs and services (crisis pregnancy center, support groups, prenatal care, maternity leave, etc.).

Coping/Stress

· Delinquency/violence issues.

· Crime issues/indicators.

· Poverty issues/indicators.

· CPS or APS abuse referrals: Compare with previous years.

· Drug abuse rates, alcohol use, and abuse: Compare with previous years.

· Stressors.

· Stress management resources (e.g., hotlines, support groups, etc.).

· Prevalent mental health issues/concerns:

· How does the community deal with mental health issues

· Mental health professionals within community and usage

· Disaster planning:

· Past disasters

· Drills (what, how often)

· Planning committee (members, roles)

· Policies

· Crisis intervention plan

Functional Health Patterns Discussion

Functional Health Patterns Discussion

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You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

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The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

• Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
• Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
• One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
• I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

Weekly Participation

• Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
• In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
• Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
• Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

APA Format and Writing Quality

• Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
• Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
• I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

• I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
• As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
• It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

LopesWrite Policy                                   

• For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
• Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
• Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
• Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

• The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
• Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
• If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
• I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
• As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

• Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
• Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
• Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.