The Community Guide Toolkit

Step 2:

Write a Problem Statement

Once you’ve consulted your Community Health Assessment and Improvement Plan, write a problem statement that summarizes your community’s primary public health concerns and prevention priorities. The problem statement can be used in later program planning stages to help you select appropriate evidence-based intervention strategies.

To begin setting priorities, determine which factors most affect your community’s vision for health, the immediacy of identified issues, and identify a manageable number of issues to address. You can also arrange identified issues in order of importance to further prioritize them. Once you’ve determined your priorities, you should summarize them in a problem statement.

Effective problem statements paint a clear picture of the primary health concerns in your community in clear and concise language. It should also include a description of the community’s long-term vision, the health problem to be addressed, the target population affected, socioecological determinants compounding the issue, key stakeholders involved, the historical context of the health problem, and opportunities/priorities for prevention.

You can use the following questions to guide the development of your problem statement:

• What is the health problem?
• Who is affected?
• What are the risk factors?
• What social, individual, policy, environmental, or other factors are involved?
• How do the issues impact the community’s long-term vision?
• What are the prevention opportunities?
• Who are the potential stakeholders?

To download a sample problem statement, visit http://cg.naccho.org and click the resources tab.