Felt Needs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Felt Needs - Essay Example Target age group socio-demographic profile: Onkaparinga is located south of Adelaide CBD. The city of Onkaparinga covers an area of 518km2 with a population of 153,496 (2004). 22% of the city's population is aged 15 years or lower, hence the city's age structure can be classified as young when compared with Adelaide Statistics Division (ASD). In addition, according to the data available, the city of Onkaparinga's population aged 15-19 comprises 8 % of the city's total population, which, when numerically presented, is 11,500 . According to (Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 2001), there is no specific data targeting girls aged 12- 18 years as a separate group. At the 2001 Census, the city of Onkaparinga recorded 20,530 females aged between 5- 24 in total out of which 323 were Indigenous females. In addition, there were 369 non stated females belonging to the above - examined group. It has been noted that the adolescents living in the Onkaparinga have had a very high incidences of breast cancer. These have been more pronounced amongst the poor those earning less than $21,000 per annum. To gain the right insight of the issues and of the Onkaparinga community, the following methodology was used. Oral interviews with the key informants, and focused group discussions. Finally all available related literature was reviewed with an aim of coming up with the true situation. The researcher, toured the Local Government Area of Onkaparinga (Adelaide-South Australia) to acquire data for the study, two main approaches were used, that is: Involvement of local leaders also referred her as key informants and group discussion. In a study related to needs assessment, approaches, Warheit, (1984) described the "key informant approach" as an effective research method based on information secured from local residents in a position to understand the peoples' needs and consumption patterns. Therefore, selection of informants was based on the individual's understanding of the community, its people and the peoples' needs. This method was favored because of the nature of the Local Government Area of Onkaparinga (Adelaide-South Australia) whereby the illiteracy levels are very high. The methodology is useful in collecting information from key people such as professionals, who have worked very closely with them and therefore understand their needs better. The data collected from focused group discussions was used to assess needs and has been used by social workers with a great level of success (Warheit, et al. 1984). Warren (1984, p. 36) stated that "group discussions are a fine method of covering a big area in a shorter time" In this particular study, each group comprised of people who could provide diverse dimensions on the community needs. The felt problems discussed here are presented from the perspective community. Felt Needs Unemployment: Interestingly, until year 2001, the city of Onkaparinga consistently recorded