Testing a Community Health Assessment in Germany with the Focus on Planetary Health and Older Adults in an urban Area

Kurzfassung/Abstract

Background: The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines Community Health Nursing as a special field of nursing that combines nursing, public health and social assistance skills to promote health, improve environmental conditions and support rehabilitation in illness and disability. Although CHNs have a long international tradition, Germany has only just begun to implement CHNs in its healthcare. Key element of practice is the assessment of entire population needs. Community assessment is therefore a crucial part of a Community Health Nurse's work. Through community assessment, a CHN can gather information about the community, define persistent problems, meet needs, prioritize problems and inform the decision-making process. Several CHAs have already been carried out in Germany, most of them project-related and only some of them published in German. A workshop will test a community assessment tool in a large city in eastern Germany with a focus on planetary health and older adults.
Methods: The testing of the community health assessment is part of a workshop organized by the CHN specialist group of the German Nursing Association, which will take place in November 2024 in Dresden. Participants will be CHNs or CHN-students, as well as APNs with the focus on public health and community nursing.
The assessment will focus on Planetary Health and older adults in the Johannstadt and Neustadt neighborhoods of Dresden. The assessment starts with a general introduction of the framework “Community-as-a-partner model” from Anderson & McFarlane et al. 2015 and a short introduction for the assessment tools. The participants then will be divided into groups. After four hours, the groups meet again and discuss the challenges they faced in conducting the community health assessment using a structured feedback method.
Expected results: The expected results show that even in small social areas of a city, there are different challenges and approaches to improve healthcare for vulnerable groups. The ‘community-as-a-partner’ model requires adaptations in the German context, particularly with regard to the legal framework, access to health data and cultural particularities. In addition, the combination of community health and planetary health offers new approaches for care practice and emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary cooperation and the consideration of environmental factors in care.
Discussion: Our workshop will attempt to adapt a community health assessment tool in the German context. The results of our workshop in terms of challenges and potential adaptation needs will provide initial insights into the application of community health assessment in Germany.