A community health nurse is planning community initiatives collaboratively and working on assembling a community team. To help overcome barriers, which of the following should the nurse propose?

Choice A: Crime Statistics
Crime statistics are an example of secondary data. Secondary data refers to information that has been collected by someone else for a different purpose but is being utilized by the nurse for community assessment. Crime statistics are typically gathered by law enforcement agencies and other governmental bodies and can provide valuable insights into the safety and social environment of a community.

Choice B: Direct Observation
Direct observation is a method of collecting primary data. Primary data is gathered firsthand by the researcher through direct methods such as surveys, interviews, or observations. In this case, the nurse would be directly observing the community to gather information, making it a primary data collection method.

Choice C: Community Informant Interviews
Community informant interviews are another example of primary data collection. These interviews involve speaking directly with community members or key informants to gather firsthand information about the community's health needs, resources, and concerns. This method provides qualitative data that can be used to understand the community's perspective.

Choice D: Windshield Survey
A windshield survey is a primary data collection method where the nurse drives through the community to observe various aspects such as housing conditions, availability of services, and general environmental conditions. This type of survey provides firsthand observational data about the community.

Choice A: Prevalence Rate
The prevalence rate measures the total number of cases of a disease or health condition in a population at a specific point in time or over a specified period. It is expressed as a proportion of the population. While useful for understanding the burden of disease, the prevalence rate does not provide information on the number of deaths, making it unsuitable for calculating mortality data.

Choice B: Case Fatality Rate
The case fatality rate (CFR) is the proportion of individuals diagnosed with a particular disease who die from that disease within a specified period. It is expressed as a percentage. While CFR provides insight into the severity of a disease, it does not give the overall number of deaths in a population, nor does it specify the age group affected.

Choice C: Age-Specific Mortality Rate
The age-specific mortality rate is the number of deaths in a specific age group per 100,000 population in that age group over a given period. This measure is ideal for calculating the number of deaths among school-age children, as it provides detailed mortality data specific to that age group. By using this rate, the nurse can accurately determine the mortality rate for school-age children in the county.

Choice D: Cause-Specific Mortality Rate
The cause-specific mortality rate is the number of deaths from a specific cause per 100,000 population in a given year. While this measure is useful for understanding the impact of specific diseases or conditions, it does not provide a comprehensive view of mortality across different age groups. Therefore, it is not the best choice for calculating the overall number of deaths among school-age children.