Polk County Behavioral Health Study | Page 118

Review of the Three Project Stages
All work plan activities for this project were developed to address Polk Vision ’ s preferences and needs . Importantly , though , some research activities were slightly modified based on new information learned throughout the process . For example , substantially more stakeholder interviews were conducted than originally planned due to the tremendous insight and depth of knowledge shared by early project participants . As such , the project has successfully engaged a diverse set of key stakeholders .
The goal of the project methodology is to seamlessly address each of three research stages in the scope of work . The stages include :
Stage 1 : Resource Mapping and Process Flow Goal : To create a statistical and mapbased profile of Polk County . Deliverables included an inventory of existing behavioral health service sites and a profile of each .
Stage 2 : Gap Analysis and Needs Assessment Goal : To generate a comprehensive analysis of the Polk County behavioral health environment and generate an indepth Needs Assessment and Gap Analysis .
Stage 3 : Implementing Strategies that Strengthen Communities Goal : To create strategies to positively impact community behavioral health .
Objective
of the Stage 2 Gap Analysis and Needs Assessment
As noted in the table above , the goal of Stage 2 research was to generate a comprehensive analysis of the Polk County behavioral health environment and generate an in-depth Needs Assessment and Gap Analysis . Stage 2 engaged a great breadth of stakeholders and identified a broad-based list of community needs . Activities were designed to help improve community behavioral health by engaging a broad-based set of community members and identifying helpful resources , access to care challenges , service gaps , and highly granular or unique needs based on various factors ( e . g ., demographics , location , lifestyle ). The research conducted in Stage 2 had the additional benefit of building collaboration with individuals and community groups interested in future initiatives designed to improve behavioral health throughout the County .
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