Community Profiling

A community profile is a description of a given area used to inform local decision-making. This guide describes the practical steps to be taken in producing useful, collaborative community profiles, giving advice on how to assemble a group, how to collect data, and how to monitor and evaluate the work. The study is based on work carried out in Avon and other parts of England. It sets out some of the practical difficulties that are faced by partnerships of people from very different backgrounds and agencies, and offers ways around these problems. The guide should benefit service planners, policy-makers and researchers within local authorities and health authorities, and community-based groups.