III Glossary
Open Resources for Nursing (Open RN)
Community diagnosis: A summary statement resulting from analysis of the data collected from a community health needs assessment.
Community health needs assessment: A systematic process to identify and analyze community health needs and assets in order to prioritize these needs, plan, and act upon significant unmet community health needs.
Focus groups: A systematic way of collecting data through small group discussion. Focus group participants are chosen to represent a larger group of people.
Health disparities: Health differences that are linked with social, economic, and/or environmental disadvantages.
Health equity: A goal of everyone having a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible.
Health inequities: Avoidable differences in health status seen within and between communities.
Healthy community: A community in which local groups from all parts of the community work together to prevent disease and make healthy living options accessible.
Indicated prevention: Interventions that target individuals who have a high probability of developing disease.
Interviews: Structured conversations with specific individuals who have experience, knowledge, or understanding about a topic or issue.
Key informant interviews: Interviews are conducted with select people who are in key positions and have specific areas of knowledge and experience.
Leading health indicators (LHIs): A subset of high-priority Healthy People 2030 objectives to drive action toward improving health and well-being.
Primary data collection: Data collected to better understand the community’s needs and/or study who may be affected by actions taken for the community. Primary data collection includes tools such as public forums, focus groups, interviews, windshield surveys, surveys, and participant observation.[1]
Primary prevention: Interventions aimed at susceptible populations or individuals to prevent disease from occurring. Immunizations are an example of primary prevention.
Primordial prevention: Risk factor reduction strategies focused on social and environmental conditions targeted for vulnerable populations.
Public forms: Public gatherings where citizens discuss important issues at well-publicized locations and times.
Public health nurses: Public health nurses work across various settings in the community such as government agencies, community-based centers, shelters, and vaccine distribution sites.[2]
Quaternary prevention: Actions taken to protect individuals from medical interventions that are likely to cause more harm than good and to suggest interventions that are ethically acceptable.
Secondary analysis: Analyzing previously collected data and research about the community to determine community needs.
Secondary prevention: Interventions that emphasize early detection of disease and target healthy-appearing individuals with subclinical forms of disease.
Selected prevention: Interventions that target individuals or groups with greater risk factors for illness (and perhaps fewer protective factors) than the broader population.
Social determinants of health (SDOH): The conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age.
Surveys: Standardized questions that are relatively easy to analyze and are beneficial for collecting information across a large geographic area, hear from as many people as possible, and explore sensitive topics.
Tertiary prevention: Interventions implemented for symptomatic clients to reduce the severity of the disease and potential long-term complications.
Universal prevention: Interventions designed to reach entire groups or populations such as schools, whole communities, or workplaces.
Windshield survey: A form of direct observation of community needs while driving and literally looking through the windshield.
- Community Tool Box by Center for Community Health and Development at the University of Kansas is licensed under CC BY NC SA 3.0 ↵
- Greenwood, B. (2018, June 29). What are the primary roles of the community nurse? CHRON. https://work.chron.com/primary-roles-community-nurse-15144.html ↵