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Bridging the Gap Between Asset/Capacity Building and Needs Assessment
Concepts and Practical Applications
First Edition
- James W. Altschuld - The Ohio State University, USA
February 2014 | 264 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc
In this groundbreaking text, the author examines the synthesis of two antithetical ideas—needs assessment and asset/capacity building. At the heart of this approach is a focus on assessing the strengths and assets that communities have and demonstrating how to make those assets stronger. The author explains the foundation of needs assessment and asset/capacity building, discusses their similarities and differences, and offers a new hybrid framework that includes eight steps for how they can be done jointly for better results. The author then applies a checklist for judging the quality of this approach to six cases that represent real-world applications of hybrid principles. The last chapter demonstrates how such efforts might be studied in the future, emphasizing ways findings and results from hybrid ventures can be used effectively. A wide range of examples, tables, and figures appear throughout, with insightful discussion questions at the end of each chapter to facilitate meaningful discourse.
1. Beginnings
2. Synthesis of Needs Assessment and Asset/Capacity Building
3. Looking Closely at the First Three Critical Steps of the Framework
4. Step 4 in the Hybrid Framework
5. Steps 5-8: Completing the Hybrid Process
6. A Checklist for the Hybrid Framework
7. Cases Exhibiting Hybrid Framework Characteristics: Examples From Public Health
8. Cases From Other Fields
9. Research and Utilization
Supplements
Companion Site
The open-access Companion Website includes the following:
- Interesting and relevant additional readings provide a jumping-off point for course assignments, papers, research, group work, and class discussion.
- Lively and stimulating ideas for activities to reinforce active learning.
