MPH 601 Week 2 Learning Needs Assessment Example

What East Side Adults With Prediabetes Already Know, What They Want to Learn and How They Learn Best: A Learning Needs Assessment

[Student Name]

University of Phoenix

MPH/601: Public Health Promotion and Education

Week 2 Assignment

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

The county program, its survey, focus groups, interviews and findings are composites written for a model paper; county estimates come from CDC PLACES, and research findings come from the sources cited.

When the county's diabetes prevention program coordinator reviewed why participants were dropping out, she realized the curriculum had been adopted from a national model without asking local participants what they needed or how they learned. Before redesigning the program, she led a learning needs assessment. This paper presents its methods, findings and priorities.

The Target Population

The population is adults aged 30 to 70 on the county's east side with prediabetes, identified through the community health center, clinics and screening events. Most are Hispanic, many are bilingual and some speak mainly Spanish. Many work hourly jobs or care for family members.

The County Picture

County data frame the need. CDC's PLACES estimates for 2023 show that 12.3% of Pueblo County adults, whose data anchor this analysis, have diagnosed diabetes, 32.1% have obesity and 26.8% report no leisure-time physical activity (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2025). With national data suggesting that prediabetes is far more common than diabetes, the pool of adults who could benefit is large.

Methods

The team used four methods. A 20-question survey, offered on paper and by phone in English and Spanish, reached 124 adults with prediabetes. Three focus groups, one in Spanish, gathered 26 participants' views. Six key informants, including a community health worker, a clinic nurse, a pastor and a food bank manager, were interviewed. A brief health literacy screening question was included in the survey.

Sample Survey Questions

The survey used plain language and pictures. Examples included: how sure are you that you could walk 30 minutes on five days a week, from not at all sure to very sure; which of these drinks has the most sugar, shown with photographs; what gets in the way of eating the way you would like; and when and where would you prefer to attend sessions. Questions were tested with five community members before use and revised where wording confused them.

Finding One: Knowledge Is Higher Than Assumed

Most respondents knew that prediabetes raises the risk of diabetes, that sugary drinks raise blood sugar and that walking helps. Fewer understood how much weight loss would lower their risk or how to read a nutrition label. The main gap was not awareness but practical skill.

Finding Two: Skills and Confidence Are Low

Only a third said they felt confident they could lose weight and keep it off. Many had tried and regained. Participants wanted to practice specific skills: cooking familiar dishes with less fat and sugar, fitting activity into busy days and handling family resistance.

Finding Three: Readiness Varies

Using a stage-of-change question, the survey found 22% not yet thinking about change, 45% thinking about it and 33% preparing or already acting. The transtheoretical model describes a rule of thumb for at-risk populations of roughly 40% in precontemplation, 40% in contemplation and 20% in preparation, and it reports that stage-matched interventions have improved recruitment, retention and progress (Prochaska & Velicer, 1997). The program's recruits were more ready than typical, but most were still not ready for an intensive action program.

Finding Four: Health Literacy

About 38% of respondents said they were less than confident filling out medical forms by themselves, a common marker of limited health literacy. That matters. Across 96 studies, a systematic review tied limited health literacy to extra hospital stays and emergency visits, fewer mammograms and flu shots, trouble showing how to take medicines, trouble making sense of labels and health messages and, in older adults, worse health and earlier death (Berkman et al., 2011). If a third of learners struggle with forms, a curriculum built on handouts will lose them.

Finding Five: Language and Culture

Focus group participants described family meals as central and shared, making individual diets hard. Several said the original sessions felt like lectures from outsiders. Spanish speakers wanted sessions in Spanish, not interpretation. Some held beliefs about diabetes as inevitable in their family, which lowered motivation.

Differences Between Groups

Findings differed by group. Spanish-speaking participants reported lower confidence and more family barriers but stronger interest in group sessions. Participants over 60 wanted slower-paced sessions and more on managing other conditions, such as high blood pressure. Younger participants, often parents, most wanted short sessions and phone-based content. One program design would not fit all three groups equally.

Finding Six: Preferred Formats

Participants preferred hands-on sessions, cooking demonstrations, group walks, short videos on phones and learning from people like themselves. Most wanted sessions of 60 minutes or less, on weekday evenings or Saturday mornings, at the community center or a church.

What Key Informants Added

The community health worker noted that transportation and child care were frequent barriers. The food bank manager described the cost of fresh produce. The pastor offered church space and volunteers. The clinic nurse said many patients nodded during explanations but could not repeat instructions.

In Participants' Words

Focus group comments made the findings concrete. One woman said, in Spanish, that she knew what to eat but not how to cook it so her husband would still eat it. A man said he walked all day at work and did not see why he needed more exercise. Another participant said the handouts from the first program went straight into a drawer. These comments shaped the priorities more than any single statistic.

Prioritizing Learning Needs

The team ranked needs by importance for preventing diabetes and by how changeable they seemed. Top priorities were: skills for preparing familiar meals with less sugar and fat; strategies to fit 150 minutes of activity into busy weeks; building confidence through small goals and peer success; reading labels and portion sizes using pictures rather than text; and involving family in changes.

Implications for Program Design

The findings point to a program that teaches through practice rather than lectures, uses plain language and pictures, offers Spanish-language groups led by bilingual peers, includes an introductory track for people still deciding, schedules sessions when people can attend and addresses family and cost.

Sharing the Results

The team presented the findings at the community center and at two churches, in English and Spanish, and asked participants whether the priorities matched their experience. Participants added one priority, managing stress, which several said drove late-night eating. Sharing results built trust and recruited five future peer leaders.

Limits

The survey reached people already connected to clinics and may miss those most isolated. The literacy screen is a single question and cannot measure numeracy, which matters for reading labels and counting portions. Self-reported knowledge may overstate what people know.

Conclusion

The learning needs assessment overturned the program's assumption that participants lacked information. Adults with prediabetes knew much of the basics but lacked practical skills, confidence and a format that fit their lives, language and literacy. Evidence on health literacy and stages of change shaped how the findings were read, and prioritized needs now guide the program's objectives.

References

Berkman, N. D., Sheridan, S. L., Donahue, K. E., Halpern, D. J., & Crotty, K. (2011). Low health literacy and health outcomes: An updated systematic review. Annals of Internal Medicine, 155(2), 97-107. https://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-155-2-201107190-00005

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2025). PLACES: Local data for better health, county data, 2025 release [Data set]. https://data.cdc.gov/d/swc5-untb

Prochaska, J. O., & Velicer, W. F. (1997). The transtheoretical model of health behavior change. American Journal of Health Promotion, 12(1), 38-48. https://doi.org/10.4278/0890-1171-12.1.38