Date of Award
Spring 4-8-2022
Document Type
Honors Thesis
Department/Major
Health Science
First Advisor
Angela Landeen
Second Advisor
Beate Wone
Third Advisor
Jamie Turgeon-Drake
Keywords
WIC, community heatlh needs assessment, breastfeeding, nutrition, care, prevention
Subject Categories
Maternal and Child Health | Medicine and Health Sciences | Public Health
Abstract
The supplemental nutrition program of women, infants and children (WIC) is a nationwide program designed to give women and children access to basic nutritional foods, breastfeeding services, and healthcare referrals. WIC has been shown to help prevent some diseases such as nutritional deficiencies or type two diabetes by requiring participants to attend pre- and postnatal appointments and nutritional counseling. The effectiveness of the WIC program is not well known in individual states. The purpose of this research is to identify trends of the WIC program and resources within South Dakota through an analysis of the community health needs assessments. The Department of Health requires WIC clinics to return community health needs assessments annually. After receipt of the assessments, Ravens Eye, a data analysis software, was used to evaluate the data. WIC continues to provide effective services by collaborating with other community services that have similar goals as WIC. These services could include breastfeeding and nutritional knowledge and services for children and their caregivers. Based on the findings of this research, these services meet WIC participant needs. A few of the main barriers perceived by WIC staff that exist for WIC participants specific to South Dakota are general access to some services and a lack of public transportation. There appears to be few to none breastfeeding gaps which is a positive effect WIC has on breastfeeding.
Recommended Citation
Greiner, Rachel, "Qualitative Analysis of South Dakota Community Health Needs Assessments" (2022). Honors Thesis. 258.
https://red.library.usd.edu/honors-thesis/258