Jundishapur Journal of Health Sciences

Jundishapur Journal of Health Sciences

Empowering the Community to Identify and Prioritize Neighborhood Development Needs: A Qualitative Study

Document Type : Research Article

Authors
1 Departmentof Biostatistics and Epidemiology,Schoolof PublicHealth,TehranUniversityof MedicalSciences,Tehran,Iran
2 DepartmentofCommunityandPreventiveMedicine,FacultyofMedicine, TehranMedicalSciences,IslamicAzadUniversity,Tehran,Iran
3 Social Determinants of HealthResearchCenter,Schoolof PublicHealth,ShahidSadoughiUniversityof MedicalSciences,Yazd,Iran
4 Departmentof Biostatistics andEpidemiology,Facultyof Health,ShahidSadoughiUniversityof MedicalSciences,Yazd,Iran
https://doi.org/10.5812/jjhs-122089
Abstract
Background:
The present study aimed to empower the community to identify and prioritize the needs for the health development of the Eskan neighborhood in Yazd province, Iran.
Methods:
This community-based participatory research (CBPR) was conducted in the Eskan neighborhood, Yazd. The project ‘neighborhood health improvement plan (Tabasom)’ was conducted, which included five steps (i.e., area identification, organization, empowerment, needs assessment and prioritization, and intervention and action). In the present paper, two steps, namely empowerment and needs assessment, are described.
Results:
The results revealed 10 high-priority problems in the Eskan neighborhood. The first problem with the highest priority was associated with waste management.
Conclusions:
According to the findings, empowering and educating individuals to detect the neighborhood problems led to the better identification of the problems, resulting in the further development of the neighborhood and the provision of more effective solutions by the authorities with the community participation.
Keywords:CommunityParticipation,Empowerment,Development,ResidenceCharacteristics
Keywords