Assessment & Planning Models, Frameworks & Tools

Common Elements of Assessment and Planning Frameworks

Most assessment and planning frameworks include steps or phases that reflect the following actions, some of which may occur simultaneously:

Organize and plan
Engage the community
Develop a goal or vision
Conduct community health assessment(s)
Prioritize health issues
Develop community health improvement plan
Implement and monitor community health improvement plan
Evaluate process and outcomes

Differences Among Assessment & Planning Frameworks

Assessment and planning frameworks differ in various ways:

Types of data, recommended sources, and specific indicators for each (quantitative, qualitative, primary, secondary)
Which community groups are engaged and how
The sophistication of the model and the length of time that might be required to undertake the process
Whether the framework is broadly comprehensive or focuses more directly on certain kinds of data and issues, i.e., chronic disease or environmental health
The lead organization that the tool or framework is focused toward, i.e., hospital leadership or public health agency leadership

Most tools emphasize the importance of broad stakeholder and community engagement and can be used by any type of lead organization. Frameworks can also be blended to create a model that addresses your particular community’s needs. Note: The following list of planning models is not exhaustive but reflects some of the most well-defined resources and frequently used models.

Model	Author, Date Released or Updated	Brief Description
Commonly Used Planning Models, Frameworks & Tools
Association for Community Health Improvement, Community Health Assessment toolkit	American Hospital Association, updated 2011	Toolkit for planning, leading, and using community health needs assessments Provides six-step assessment framework and practical guidance Access to the full toolkit requires paid membership
Catholic Health Association	Catholic Hospital Association, updated 2012	For hospital staff who conduct or oversee community health needs assessments and planning community benefit programs Focus on collaboration, building on existing resources, and using public health data
Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships (MAPP)	National Association of County and City Health Officials and CDC, 2001	Framework for community health improvement planning at the local level Strong emphasis on community engagement and collaboration for system-level planning after identifying assets and needs
State Health Improvement Planning (SHIP) Guidance and Resources	Association of State and Territorial Health Officials and CDC, 2011	Framework for state health improvement planning Emphasis on community engagement and collaboration for system-level planning after identifying assets and needs
Focused Planning Models, Frameworks & Tools
Model	Author, Date Released or Updated	Brief Description
Community Health Assessment and Group Evaluation (CHANGE) [PDF – 5.12MB]	CDC, updated 2010	Tool for all communities interested in creating social and built environments that support healthy living Focus on gathering and organizing data on community assets to prioritize needs for policy changes Users complete an action plan
Protocol for Assessing Community Excellence in Environmental Health (PACE-EH)	National Association of County and City Health Officials and CDC, 2000	Tasks to investigate the relationships among what they value, how their local environment impacts their health, and next steps For local health agencies to create a community-based environmental health assessment

More Tools for the Assessment & Improvement Process

Community Toolbox
Free, practical information on essential skills for building healthy communities. Outlines a dynamic and iterative process with six phases, and related competencies, associated with facilitating community change and improvement.

CDC Evaluation Framework
Within CDC’s Office of the Associate Director for Program, the Program Evaluation Unit sets standards for agency-wide evaluation; delivers technical assistance and resources to enhance evaluation efforts; and supports evaluation capacity-building across CDC programs.

Guide to Community Preventive Services (Community Guide)
Free resource to help you choose programs and policies to improve health and prevent disease in your community

Healthy People 2020 (HP2020) and MAP-IT
Based on a simple but powerful model to establish national health objectives and provide data and tools to enable states, cities, communities, and individuals across the country to combine their efforts to achieve them. The MAP-IT framework helps mobilize partners, assess the needs of the community, create and implement a plan to reach HP2020 objectives, and track community progress.

Principles of Community Engagement
Provides public health professionals, health-care providers, researchers, and community-based leaders and organizations with both a science base and practical guidance for engaging partners in projects that may affect them.

National Public Health Performance Standards (NPHPS)
National partnership initiative that maintains performance standards and assessment tools for state and local public health systems and for public health governing entities. This is often a component of a state or local health improvement process.

National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) Resource Center for Community Health Assessments and Community Health Improvement Plans
Practical, customizable tools and resources for local health departments in a central and publicly accessible location. Supports local health departments and their partners as they complete community health improvement processes, including the conduct of a community health assessment and the development of a community health improvement plan.

Additional Models & Frameworks

Planned Approach to Community Health (PATCH) [PDF 3.4MB]
Community health planning model developed in the mid-1980s by CDC in partnership with state and local health departments and community groups.
—Kreuter MW. Community health Promotion: the agenda for the ’90s, PATCH. Journal of Health Education 1992; 23(3):135–9.

Assessment Protocol for Excellence in Public Health (APEXPH)
Provides local communities with a means of increasing their organizational capacity and strengthening their leadership role in their communities through a community health assessment process.

PRECEDE/PROCEED
Applies a medical perspective to public health, even though its focus is health promotion, rather than treatment of disease.
—Green LW, Kreuter MW, Deeds SG, Partridge KB. Health education planning: a diagnostic approach. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield; 1980; and Green LW, Kreuter MW. Health Promotion Planning: An Educational and Ecological Approach (4th ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill; 2005.

Institute of Medicine Community Health Improvement Process
Framework for promoting community health which may also be used as a model for creating healthy communities. Comprehensive, community-based view of health and starts with an inclusive, participatory, community-based coalition or coordinating group.
—Institute of Medicine. Improving Health in the Community: A Role for Performance Monitoring. Washington, DC: National Academy Press; 1997.

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