Training Needs Assessment - Assessing Training Needs

The first step in building a training course is identifying the needs of our target participants. The documents in this category provide a variety of ideas for conducting a needs assessment. We include sample needs assessment surveys to illustrate how they can be used at this stage of the training process. An in-depth Key Informant Guide can be used as is or adapted to your own needs. There is also a tool on needs and needs assessment and viewing your findings within a broader environmental context, e.g., from local to global.

  • Needs Assessment: Definitions and Context
    File Type:
    Word Document
    Pages:
    3

    An explanation of what "need" means in the context of prioritising curriculum topics and what "needs assessment" entails. This tool will help you use your needs assessments to identify the knowledge and skills gaps of your intended audience by giving a sound understanding of these concepts. The tool also puts need into a more environmental perspective by explaining the continuum of local impact of needs assessment findings to those on the global end of the spectrum.

  • Key Informant Interview Guide: Assessment for HIV Training and Education Planning
    File Type:
    Word Document
    Pages:
    8

    An in-depth assessment tool to help you describe your existing healthcare system and your training needs. It will contribute to planning for education and training that best meet those needs. You will find it very useful as you engage in building or strengthening your capacity to better serve HIV-infected people in your community. The form covers areas such as demographics of your HIV+ patient population, services you provide, staffing levels, and types of learning experiences, topics, and methods your staff might be most interested in. It will also help you identify any barriers to training.

  • Training Curriculum Priorities: A Survey
    File Type:
    Word Document
    Pages:
    3

    A broad list of potential HIV/AIDS-related training topics. Use as is or adapt to fit your needs assessment target audience and the trainings you are able to provide. Sample topics include basic HIV/AIDS training for nurses, providing counseling and emotional support to patients and families, women and HIV/AIDS, and working with traditional healers.

  • Examining Your Organisation’s HIV/AIDS Training History and Capacity
    File Type:
    Word Document
    Pages:
    4

    Created by a working group made up of HIV/AIDS training organisations to provide quality training to those caring for this patient population. The assessment’s goal is to identify the resources, knowledge, training, and evaluation needs of members of this working group. The data collected will be used to help create a clearinghouse of training resources in HIV/AIDS and determine how this group can work together to bring quality training in HIV/AIDS. Questions cover a wide range of areas, e.g., the organisation’s training audiences, information about their trainers, a list to indicate the topics they teach, and questions about what materials they produce.

  • Needs Assessment Questionnaire: School Needs in Botswana
    File Type:
    Word Document
    Pages:
    9

    A questionnaire for school personnel regarding HIV/AIDS. Most questions are asked in relation to staff, community, students, and families. It draws out answers about current training, materials, and accessible information; the impact AIDS has had on these four groups, and the employee’s comfort being tested for, and teaching about, AIDS. This tool can be used to help an organisation such as a school explore their experiences to date and identify the resources available and not available to them.

  • Course Needs Assessment
    File Type:
    Word Document
    Pages:
    2

    A list of key tasks to help identify your target audience, determine their needs, and understand their characteristics. Also, a list of the kinds of tools and other resources that enhance a needs assessment, such as getting the opinion of local clinicians and reviewing existing courses.

  • Training Needs Assessment Worksheet
    File Type:
    Word Document
    Pages:
    1

    A worksheet that guides you through a process of establishing what you know and identifying what you need to know and have for a training. For example, who are the participants and what are their desired professional skills, training locations and limitations, and content and training expertise? This tool may be used in conjunction with the “Course Needs Assessment” above.

  • Individual Training Needs Assessment, Tribal B.E.A.R. Project
    File Type:
    PDF Document*
    Pages:
    2

    A sample survey form for gathering healthcare providers' knowledge about HIV/AIDS and their thoughts on preferred topics and learning methods. The Northwest AIDS Education and Training Center’s (AETC) Tribal B.E.A.R. (Building Effective AIDS Response) Project at the University of Washington developed this form. It can serve as a model to help you design a survey for your own region.

  • Delta Region AETC Training Survey
    File Type:
    PDF Document*
    Pages:
    4

    A sample survey form for healthcare providers about their HIV/AIDS knowledge, skills, learning styles, and educational needs. The Delta Region AIDS Education and Training Center (AETC) at Louisiana State University developed the form. It serves as a potential model in designing a survey for your region.

  • Participant Biography Form
    File Type:
    Word Document
    Pages:
    1

    A form to be completed for each participant completing a training to determine a participant's occupation, duties at work, and extent to which they work with HIV+ clients.

    • Individual Training Needs Assessments
    File Type:
    Word Documents

    A set of extensive provider-specific assessment tools to determine the skills, knowledge, attitudes, and training needs of primary-care providers, pharmacists, nurses, traditional healers, and dentists when treating HIV+ patients. These questionnaires cover areas such as basic knowledge of HIV treatment, patient risk assessment, provider’s comfort working with patients with various religious beliefs and sexual identities, and comfort level working with a team of western and traditional healers. These assessment forms explore the most effective learning methods for healthcare providers and what training experiences they would find most useful.

     

  • Community Providers Needs Assessment Profile
    File Type:
    Word Document
    Pages:
    2

    This sample assessment form from the San Francisco Area AIDS Education and Training Center is a tool for providers to complete on the services and care they give to people living with HIV and their families. In addition, it allows providers to identify topic areas in the HIV/AIDS field where they may need more training and skill development. A form like this would be useful for a training coordinator or other training provider to identify the training needs of a target group of learners.

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