Needs Assessment: A Practical Guide to Assessing Local Needs for Services for Drug Users
Chapter 9: Needs Assessment Checklist
The previous chapters of this document have provided a step-by-step guide to doing needs assessment. The checklist below summarises the most important points from these chapters. The next three chapters focus on how to approach the task of needs assessment for three specific populations, namely: psychostimulant users (Chapter 10), rural populations (Chapter 11), and young people (Chapter 12).
Identify key individuals to be involved in a Steering Group for the needs assessment project.
Define the target population for the needs assessment as specifically as possible. Make sure the needs of the target population are the focus of the needs assessment.
Communicate the aims of the needs assessment to service providers.
Decide who will carry out the needs assessment (e.g. DAAT Officers, partner agencies or an external contractor). Consider whether additional assistance may be needed (e.g., with data collection, with data entry and analysis, with report writing), and get a commitment from the relevant staff as soon as possible.
Estimate the cost and identify the source of funding for the needs assessment.
Identify the appropriate overall approach to your needs assessment.
Gather existing sources of information about the needs of your target population. Consider what this information tells you about the needs of your target population.
Identify the services in your area that are already available to meet the needs of your target population. Consider the range of needs currently being met by them. What is the capacity of those services? Are they accessible?
Consider the ways in which you will obtain the views of your target population about their needs, and whether ethical approval is needed.
Consider the ways in which you will obtain the views of service providers about the needs of the target population. Think of ways to engage busy staff in your needs assessment and how to allay people's fears (e.g. of closure) or concerns (e.g. that no action will be taken as a result of the needs assessment).
Ensure that information is analysed and interpreted, and that conclusions are drawn. Consider how those who gathered the information can be involved in the analysis, and how the results can be relayed back to all those who contributed to the process.
Once you have identified the needs of your target population, prioritise them and consider all the options for meeting them, and then develop an implementation plan.
Consider how the views of service users could be taken into account in the prioritisation and option appraisal process and how to ensure service providers are involved in the development of the implementation plan.
Once you have agreed what changes to make, consider how to monitor and evaluate so that you know whether the changes are having the desired effect. Think what may be the most appropriate methodology for the evaluation and whether it can be done internally or by an external consultant.