Feasibility of Community Needs Assessment Tools as an Alternative For Health Survey in Describing Health Profile of A Community - A Mixed Method Study In Muddungere, Karnataka, India.

Introduction: In India, even with planned health services, it is difficult to reach the health goals without community participation. While Community needs assessment approach (CNAA) tools like Focussed group Discussion (FGD), Village mapping and matrix ranking have been effective in quickly gathering information, surveys have been conventionally preferred. Aim & Objective: The present study compares qualitative and quantitative methods t o understand feasibility of using CNAA tools in place of survey as an alternative tool Methodology: Mixed Method research employing Survey and CNAA methods of FGD, Village Mapping, transect walk and Matrix ranking score was carried out as a part of academic activity of National Service Scheme(NSS). Data was represented in form of percentages and frequency tables. Association was measured using Chi Square using Epi Info TM version 7.2.1software. Results: Using quantitative survey, we found that 71% used piped supply and 93.1% of the households used toilets. But 6.9% of them still preferred open fields for defecation. Amongst the participants of FGD, it was found that 90% participants preferred going to government hospitals. Comparable data found for variables like Maternal and child health indicators, Sanitation practices and burden of Non communicable diseases. Partially comparable results were found for burden of communicable diseases. Conclusion: CNAA research tools demonstrated comparability with survey in most areas of health concern and reduced the time required for conducting research without compromising the quality of results [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]