ANGELES UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION

Angeles City Module Learning Outcomes

At the end of the module, you should be able to:
COLLEGE OF NURSING
LO2: Apply the appropriate concepts and actions of community
NCM 0113 organizing in the context of community health nursing holistically and
Module 2 comprehensively
Community Organizing Participatory Action Research: An Introduction
LO36: Demonstrate caring as the core of nursing, love of God, love of
Module Overview country and love of people

Module 1 elaborated the concepts concerning Community Health Nursing

Understanding module 1 is an excellent foundation to comprehend the Pre-Discussion Activity (ungraded)
succeeding modules, starting with module 2. It has been said that the hallmark of You will answer several motive questions to assess what you know so far
community health nursing is the fact that it is population-focused (Clark, 2003). regarding the concept of community organizing. Questions shall be answered
using mentimeter and your participation is highly encouraged.
The primary client and recipient of care of the community health nurse is a
group of people in the community or what usually called a population group. Questions:
Because of this, you, as learners, will need to work with different types of clients in 1. What one word comes into your mind when you here “COMMUNUNITY
the community. You may work with families, socio-civic groups, government and ORGANIZING?
non-government organization and others. You have understood the concept of 2. According to your understanding of community organizing a nurse is:
a community. This time, you help organize it. This is geared towards the concept a. Implementor
of Community Organizing. b. Adviser
3. COPAR stands for:
This module will discuss the following major topics regarding Community a. Community Organizing Action Participatory Research
Organizing (CO) (1) its definition and importance, (2) the key principles of CO, (3) b. Community of Public Assessment Research
the comparison between Community Organizing and Community Organizing c. Community Organizing Assessment Planning Research
Participatory Action Research (COPAR), and (4) the CO and COPAR phases. This
will guide the learners into the application of the nursing process in organizing a Discussion
community.
1. Viewing Activity
The learners will spend four (4) hours in this module. Below are the details of
the content and the estimated time of completion. To set the discussion, you will be viewing a YouTube video
Parts of the module Estimated time of completion
entitled “Community Health Nursing the Finale||
Pre-discussion activity Philippines” (Duration: 8:20). You must take note of the
1. Survey Activity 20 minutes
different activities featured or shown on the video and
Discussion
the personal experiences of student nurses during their
1. Viewing activity: Videoblog on Community 10 minutes
Organizing Immersion of Nursing Students community health immersion.
2. Videoconferencing Part 1 90 minutes
3. Videoconferencing Part 2 60 minutes Here is the link:
4. Discussion Forum https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=73&v=kgE_j_jvuec&feat
Summary and conclusion 20 minutes ure=emb_logo&fbclid=IwAR0wB1rBpOILlaoGtHAEXZqG9YJYzuNFT5US0lJxC
Reflection questions 10 minutes LRIMUfYO3SRgZBNOPg.
Summative Evaluation 30 minutes

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 2. Video conferencing: Your clinical instructor will lead a discussion on the
definition of Community Organizing, its importance and key principles.
Learning Objectives:
At the end of the discussion, you will be able to:
1. Differentiate Community Organizing and Community Organizing
Participatory Action Research.
2. Identify the phases involved in each and the significant events that
need to take place in each phase.
3. Know how the application of CO to the nursing curriculum and
primary health care that will help define COPAR. This will enable you
to understand how the nursing process (ADPIE) is integrated to
community organizing in a general perspective.
COMMUNITY ORGANIZING
DEFINITION
Community organizing and community development themselves are very tedious
processes. For an academic discussion of these processes, we shall investigate
the existing descriptions as stated by different authors. But for an individual with
experience in community development, he or she could readily discern the
limitations of this brief discussion on the said topic
Gesmundo (2010) in her book said that different authors define COMMUNITY
ORGANIZING as the process whereby the community members:
• Develop the capability to assess their health needs and problems
• Plan and implement actions to solve these problems; and
• Put up and sustain organizational structures which will support and monitor
implementation of health initiatives by the people.
GENERAL PHASES OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZING
II.
I. PREPARATORY PHASE
a. Area Selection
Is the community in need of assistance?
• Do the community members feel the need to work together to
overcome a specific health problem?
• Are there concerned groups and organizations that the nurse
can possibly work with?
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•What will be the counterpart of the community in terms of
community support, commitment, and human resources?
b. Community Profiling
• Identification of a contact person – usually a community
leader, regardless of social or political status
• Core group formation where the core group would assist the
nurse in community profiling
• Perform community profiling
COMMUNITY PROFILE – an overview of the demographic characteristics
and the existing community and health-related services and facilities;
this will serve as the initial database and provide the basis for planning
and programming of organizing activities, including appropriate
organizing approaches.
c. Entry in the community and Integration with the People
INTEGRATION – process of living with the people, understanding their
problems, undergoing their hardships, and sharing their hopes and
aspirations to help build mutual trust and cooperation.
GUIDELINES:
• Recognize the role and position of local authorities
• Adapt a lifestyle in keeping with that of the community.
• Choose a modest dwelling which the people, especially the
economically disadvantaged, will not hesitate to enter.
• Avoid raising the expectations of the people; be clear with your
objectives and limitations.
• Participate directly in economic production.
• Make house calls and seek out people where they usually gather.
• Participate in some social activities.
ORGANIZATIONAL PHASE
A. Social Preparation – integration paves the way for the nurse to be
introduced to the community; this signals the start of the social
preparation phase wherein the nurse deepens and strengthens her
ties with the people.
B. Spotting and Developing Potential Leaders
Characteristics:
• Leaders should be able to identify with, understand, and
effectively articulate the problems that beset the community.
 • They should have a wide influence among both the rich and
poor.
• They should be willing to work for the desired change.
C. Core Group Formation
CORE GROUP – the core group consists of the identified leaders
tasked to lay down the foundation for a strong people’s organization;
ideally, it should represent the different sectors in the community.
The core group serves a training ground for developing:
• Democratic and collective leadership,
• Planning and assumption of tasks for the formation of a
community-wide organization,
• Handling and resolving group conflicts, and critical thinking
and decision-making process.
NURSE’s functions:
• Assists sectoral representatives in forming core groups in their
respective sectors
• Facilitates skills acquisition of core group members related to
tasks they will assume in the organization
D. Setting Up the Community Organization
Guidelines:
• When all the sectoral organizations are already formed, the
people are now ready for a community-wide organization.
• The nurse must ensure that the members have maximum
participation and control of the organizational activities.
• Organizational structure must be simple to facilitate
consultation and decision making.
• Working committees must be created to investigate the
different concerns of the organization and the community.
Example: health committee.
III. EDUCATION AND TRAINING PHASE
PURPOSE: to strengthen the organization and develop its capability to
attend to the community’s basic health care needs
A. Conduct of the Community Diagnosis – done to come up with a
profile of the local health situation that will serve as basis for the
health programs and services that will be delivered to the
community.
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B. Training of Community Health Workers
• The community decides on the roles the CHWs are expected
to perform and the competencies and personal qualities they
should possess.
• The nurse will facilitate, conduct of training needs analysis
(TNA) of the potential CHWs to determine the level of health
skills and knowledge of the trainees.
C. Health Services Provision and Mobilization
- Should consider the resources available and problem prioritization
while strengthening collective spirit and enhancing the
community health worker’s confidence.
D. Leadership Formation Activities – deals with allowing the community
leaders to conduct such activities as meetings, assessment, planning,
implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. The skills needed in this
phase include organizing skills, human relations, and supervisory skills.
IV. INTERSECTORAL COLLABORATION PHASE
AIM: to get people to work together to address problems or concerns
that affect them
A. Networking – a relationship among organizations that consists of
exchanging information about each other’s goals and objectives,
services, or facilities. This results in the organization’s becoming aware
of each other’s worth and capabilities and how each can contribute
to the accomplishment of the network’s goals and objectives.
B. Coordination – a relationship in which organizations modify their
activities to provide better service to the target beneficiary. This may
time-consuming, as it requires more involvement and trust on the part
of the committed organization.
C. Cooperation – a relationship in which organizations share information
and resources and adjust in their respective agendas to
accommodate the other organization’s agenda. The organizations
share ownership of the success and rewards, as well as problems and
hassles that go with working together.
D. Collaboration – the level of organizational partnership in which
organizations help each other enhance their capacities in
performing their tasks, as well as in the provision of services. At this
point, people become partners, NOT competitors.
 E. Coalition or Multi-sector Collaboration – level of relationship where
organizations and citizens form a partnership where all parties give
priority to the good of the community; requires great investment in
terms of effort, time, trust, and the will to make a change.
F. Advocacy Work involves (+):
• Informing the people about the rightness of the cause – nurse
conveys problem to the people, shows how it affects them,
and describes what possible actions they can take,
• Thoroughly discussing with the people the nature of the
alternatives, their content, and possible consequences –
through this process the nurse and the people come to agree
on the relevance and appropriateness of the actions to be
taken to solve the problem.
• Supporting the people’s right to make a choice and to act on
their choice – nurse puts emphasis on the on the people’s right
to decide on actions; nurse also has the responsibility to
facilitate the process of weighing the benefits and losses
• Influencing public opinion – nurse affirms the people’s decision
by getting powerful individuals and groups to listen, support,
and make substantial changes to solve the problem.
V. PHASE OUT – nurse turns over the work and develops a plan for
monitoring and subsequent follow-up of the organization’s activities.
COMMUNITY ORGANIZING PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH
(COPAR)
DEFINITION
• A collective, participatory, transformative, liberative, sustained, and
systemic process of building people’s organizations by mobilizing and
enhancing the capabilities and resources of the people for the resolution
of their issues and concerns towards effecting change in their existing
oppressive and exploitative condition. (1994 National Rural CO
conference)
• A process by which a community identifies its needs and objectives,
develops confidence to take action with respect to them and in doing so,
extends and develops cooperative and collaborative attitudes and
practices in the community. (Ross, 1967)
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• A continuous and sustained process of educating the people tong the
people to understand and develop their critical awareness of their existing
conditions; working with the people collectively and efficiently on their
immediate and long-terms problems; and mobilizing the people to develop
their capability and readiness to respond and take action on their
immediate needs towards solving their long-term problems. (Community
Organizing: A Manual of Experience, PCDC)
COMMUNITY ORGANIZING FOR THE PRIMARY HEALTH CARE
Community organizing, as adopted by the nursing curriculum, may take on
a different flavor, but would essentially have the same substance. This discussion
is like the general community organizing stated previously. The only difference is
that is particularized to the process stated in the nursing curriculum – COPAR.
Community organization for the primary health care, as cited in the St. Paul
University of Cagayan handout for Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) students,
may be defined as the process and structures through which members of a
community are organized for the participation in health care and community
development activities.
• As a PROCESS, community organizing is the sequence of steps, in
which the community members come together to critically assess
and evaluate community conditions and work together to
improve these conditions.
• As a STRUCTURE, it refers to a particular group of community
members that work together for common health-related goals.
Community organization in PHC, therefore, refer to processes and structures in
which the community people organize themselves to improve their health
conditions within the context of community development as they strive to
achieve social and economic development for the larger society.
EMPHASIS OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZING IN PHC
1. Community people working together to solve their own problems
2. Internal organizational consolidation as a prerequisite to external
expansion
3. Social movement first before technical change
 4. Health reforms occurring within the context of broader social
transformation
IMPORTANCE OF COPAR
1. It is an important tool for community development and people
empowerment as this helps the community workers to generate community
participation in development activities.
2. It prepares the people to eventually take over the management of
development programs in the future.
3. It maximizes community participation and involvement.
4. Community resources are mobilized for community services.
5. It offers alternative solutions to health problems that may not require
modern medical interventions.
PRINCIPLES OF COPAR
1. People, especially the most oppressed, exploited, and deprived sectors are
open to change, have the capacity to change, and possess the ability to
bring about change
2. COPAR should be based on the interests of the poorest sectors of society.
3. COPAR should lead to the development of a self-reliant community and
society.
METHODS USED
1. A progressive cycle of ACTION-REFLECTION-ACTION SESSIONS (ARAS) that
begins with small, local, and concrete issues identified by the people and
the evaluation of and reflection on the action taken by them.
2. CONSCIOUSNESS-RAISING through experiential learning is central to the
COPAR process because it places emphasis on learning that emerges from
concrete action and which enriches succeeding action.
3. COPAR is PARTICIPATORY and MASS BASED because it is directed primarily
towards and biased in favor of the poor, the powerless, and the oppressed.
4. COPAR is GROUP-CENTERED and NOT LEADER-ORIENTED. Leaders are
identified and are tested through action, rather than appointed or selected
by some external force or entity.
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PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH
Actively involving the community in planning, implementation, and evaluation of
the community diagnosis.
Principles of Participatory Research
1. It is an alternative social research approach in the context of development
2. Its central element is active community participation.
3. The research is based on a system of active discussion, investigation, and
analysis.
4. Its most radical point of departure from traditional research is that the
expected beneficiaries of the research- the community people- are the
researchers themselves.
5. The collective consciousness of the people through the community
organization, is part and parcel of participatory research.
FUNCTIONS OF THE NURSE AS A COMMUNITY ORGANIZER
1. Coordinates with the community and organizes barangay units for health
clusters
2. Coordinates with other health staff members in planning and implementing
projects at the community level
3. Trains community researchers and community leaders regarding the
conduct of participatory action research
4. Ensures conducts of all activities
5. Evaluates program implementation
ESSENTIAL ACTIVITES IN COPAR
1. Integration
2. Social Investigation
3. Tentative Program Planning- the community organizer should choose one
issue to work on to begin organizing the people.
4. Groundwork- going around and motivation the people on a one-on-one
basis to do something on the issue that has been chosen
5. Meetings- people collectively ratify what they have already decided
individually. The meeting gives the people collective power and
confidence.
6. Role play- acting out the meeting that will take place between leaders of
the people and the government representatives. It is a way of training the
people to anticipate what will happen and prepare them for such
eventuality.
 7. Mobilization or Action- actual experience of the people in confronting the
powerful and the actual exercise of people power
8. Evaluation- measuring the outcome of the activities versus its objectives
9. Reflection- dealing with deeper, ongoing concerns to look at the positive
values the community organizer is trying to build in the organization.
10. Organization
PHASES OF THE COPAR PROCESS
I. PRE-ENTRY PHASE
The initial phase of the organizing process in which the community
organizer looks for communities to serve/help. This is considered as the
simplest phase in terms of actual outputs, activities and strategies, and
time spent for it.
A. Site Selection
• Site must be a depressed rural community.
• Health services at the site are inaccessible or
inadequate to meet the needs of most of the residents
• Community has poor health status.
• Area has no serious peace and order problem for the
safety of the program staff and nursing personnel,
including students.
• No strong resistance from the community regarding
HRDP being initiated.
• Area is relatively free of similar programs to avoid
duplication of services and unnecessary competition.
B. Conduct of Preliminary Social Investigation
This aims to gather information about the different areas
to determine the site that best conforms to the criteria
set.
Methods if Preliminary Social Investigation:
• Use of secondary data from various government
offices like the RHUs
• Use of secondary data from other community-
based health programs
• Coordination with extension workers from
government and non-government agencies
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• Conduct of ocular observations, noting
accessibility, geography, terrain, settlement
patterns, and physical resources.
C. Identification of Potential Barangays
Guidelines for choosing final barangay:
• Conduct informal interviews with community
residents and take note of political undertones
because they may affect organizing activities.
• Assess if COPAR is needed in the area.
II. ENTRY PHASE
This is sometimes called the social preparation phase, as the activities
done here include sensitization of the people on the critical events in
their life; motivating them to share their dreams and ideas on how to
manage their concerns; and eventually mobilizing them to take
collective action on these. This also signals the actual entry of the
community worker/organizer into the community.
Guidelines for Entry into the Community:
• Recognize the role of the local authorities by
paying them visits to inform them of their presence
and activities.
• Appearance, speech, behavior, and lifestyle of
community organizer or health staff should be in
helping with those of the community residents
without disregard of their being role model.
• Avoid raising the consciousness of the community
residents; adopt a low-key profile.
To remember the five (5) interrelated and simultaneous activities
during the Entry phase: InISIP na HEALTH SERVICES
a. Integration with the community
b. Conduct of Information campaign about HRDP
c. Conduct of deepening Social Investigation
d. Identification of Potential leaders
e. Provisions of HEALTH SERVICES
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a. Integration with the Community • Social investigations are facilitated if the health worker is properly
integrated and has acquired the trust of the people.
INTEGRATION is the process of establishing rapport and building mutual trust
• Confirmation and validation of the data with the community
and cooperation with the community people as a continuing effort to
should be done regularly.
imbibe the community way of life by undergoing the same experience and
• Data can be more effectively and efficiently gathered through
sharing their hopes and hardships.
informal methods such as in social gatherings and during house to
Through integration, the health care worker becomes one with the people house visits.
in order to: • Workshops and small group discussions are also effective tools in
data gathering.
a. immerse him/herself in community life and be accepted as a
d. Identification of Potential Leaders
member of the community;
b. experience the liberating aspect of culture and how it gives
Potential leaders are considered the future community organizers and
strength to the people as a group;
possible partners in the delivery of health services to the community. They
c. understand deeply the culture, economy, leaders, history, rhythm,
are also expected to form and lead the Community Health Organization
and lifestyle of the community; and
(CHO) and take on managed roles in the community health program.
d. be more tolerant, realistic, and committed to working for the
development of poor communities.
Characteristics of potential leaders:
Method of the integration include: 1. He/she must belong to the poor sector in the community for
representation purposes.
• participation in economic production activities of the people;
2. He/she must be a respected member of the community. His/her
• conduct of house to house visits;
credibility must be unquestionable, and he/she must have a wide
• participation in social activities like birthday celebrations, fests,
sphere of influence.
wakes, etc.;
3. He/she must be responsive and willing to work for change.
• conversing with the people where they usually gather such as in
4. He/she must have initial leadership and management skills.
stores, waterwells, washing streams, or in churchyards; and
5. He/she must possess good communication skills.
• helping out with the household chores
CORE GROUP FORMATION PHASE
b. Conduct of Information campaign about HRDP
Potential leaders are formed into a core group, a transition phase towards
c. Conduct of Deepening Social Investigation
CHO formation.
SOCIAL INVESTIGATION is also known as community study. It is a systematic
and scientific process of collecting, collating, and analyzing data to draw CORE GROUP
a clear picture of the community. It is both a phase and a process in that
A group of 8-10 individuals/community residents who possess leadership
as a phase of community organizing, it comes at the beginning, and as a
potentials formed into a cohesive working unit. Some may eventually be
process, it is continuous and is never complete.
elected as officers in the CHO or may become CHW (Community Health
Worker)
Pointers during conduct of social investigation:
• Use of survey questionnaire is discouraged.
• Community leaders can be trained to initially assist the community
workers in doing the social investigation.
• Secondary data should be thoroughly examined because much
of the information might already be available.

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 The four (4) distinct and interrelated strategies done in the core group III. ORGANIZATION BUILDING PHASE/HELPING PHASE
phase:
Once the core group manifests cohesiveness and commitment to the
1. Integration with core group members health program, it could be expanded to include other community
2. Deepening Social Investigations members. This is a step closer to the formation of a community wide
3. Training and Education of core group members health organization. This phase entails the formation of more formal
Training- the goals is to develop or hone the leader’s skills, structures and the inclusion of more forma procedures of planning,
knowledge, and attitude implementing and equivalation community wide activities. This phase
Education- aims to heighten their awareness or consciousness on also involves the conduct of trainings to develop the SKA of leaders in
the prevailing community situation and its relationship with existing managing health programs,
social realities.
Community Health Organization – Coordinating body for all health and
4. Mobilization of core group
community activities in charge of the management of relevant and
FUNCTIONS OF THE CORE GROUP AND ITS MEMBERS: appropriate health programs.
1. Social preparation of the community for health and Sub-phases of Organization Building phase
development work.
• Pre-organization sub-phase – may overlap with the latter part of
2. Organization of a community research team for the conduct
the core group formation phase, during which the core group will
of community diagnosis.
have declared the beginning of the organization phase.
3. Setting up of the Community Health Organization and
• Organizational sub-phase – formalization of the formal
facilitation of the identification of potential CHWs.
organization
4. Sensitization and mobilization of the community to act on their
more immediate health needs Activities during organization building: POTS
5. Participation in the delivery of essential health services.
P-reparing the community for organization building
e. Provision of Health Services
O-rganizing the CHO
Purposes:
T-raining and education for the CHO
• To respond to the acute health problems
S-etting up of the CHO
• To provide immediate interventions
• To put emphasis on the preventive aspects of healthcare
IV. SUSTENANCE AND STRENGTHENING PHASE
• To draw out the people’s interest in the health programs
• Enhance the integration of the community organizer on the This occurs when the community organization has already been
community established and the community members are already actively
participating in community-wide undertakings. This may be done
Among the health problems that need immediate attention are:
through:
1. High prevalence of undernutrition
• Education and training
2. Epidemics
• Network and linkages
3. High prevalence of parasitism
• Community mobilization on health and development concerns
4. Disasters that require relief and rehabilitation work
• Development of secondary leaders
Other seasonal; activities carried out during summer include herbal
medicine hunting, herbal medicine preparation, deworming and
“operation tuli”.

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COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT 4. Discussion Forum
An applied social science concerned with the study and practice of people’s An interactive discussion will be facilitated by your
collective actions in ensuring the wholistic and corporate well-being of all people. clinical instructor. You are encouraged to
participate as this may help in ensuring that you
After the discussion, you will evaluate the following statements related to CO as have understood the phases of CO and COPAR.
true or false to show how well you understand the concepts discussed. This activity
will be uploaded in your MyClass account.

Summary and Conclusion

Evaluate each statement as true or false. Click the O that corresponds to your
answer.
This module highlights Community Organizing (CO)as a process that aims
1. Community Organizing is a continues and sustained process.
to produce a self-reliant community. It may be applied in the community health
2. Community Organizing allows people to work collectively and efficiently on
setting which will pave the way to Community Organizing Participatory Action
their immediate and long-term problems.
Research. Community Organizing Participatory Action Research (COPAR) in itself
3. Community Organizing offers liberal freedom to the community where
is an adaptation of Community Organizing to the nursing curriculum. It involves
people are allowed to participate in the overall health care status of their
different phases while considering key principles which is similar to Community
community.
Organizing. It is important to understand the phases of CO and master the phases
4. The community health nurse will be responsible in formulating health
of COPAR since essential events are incorporated in each phase, contributing to
programs as intervention to identified community problems.
the success of the process.
5. Community Organizing is similar to Community Organizing Participatory
Action Research.
Reflection Questions:
Answer the following questions and submit your answer in a pdf file to be
submitted in MyClass.
1. In your own words, what is the importance of COPAR? What is its
difference from CO?
3. Asynchronous Learning Task:
2. Why is it important to have the active participation of the community
during community organizing?
You will be listening to a podcast about Community
Organizing and Community Organizing Participatory
Assessment Activity
Action Research made by your clinical instructor. You are
encouraged to take down notes while listening.
A 25-item online quiz will be given to the learners which as a form of
summative evaluation.

References
Famorca, Z. U., Nies, M. A., & McEwen, M. (2013). Nursig Care of the Community:
a comprehensive text on community and public health nursing in the Philippines.
Singapore: Elvesier Pte Ltd.

Gesmundo, M. (2010). The basics of commuynity health nursing: a study guide for
nursing studetns and local board examiness. C&E Publishing.

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Jimenez, C. (2008). Commuity Organizing Participatory Action Research (COPAR)
for Community Health Development. C&E Publishing.

Maglaya, S. (2009). Nursing practice in the community. (5th Edition). Argonauta

Corporation.

Untalan, A. T. (2007). Concepts and Guidelines on COPAR Revised Edition. Metro

Manila: Educarional Publishing House.

Prepared by:

Christian Leandro Monieno, RN MN

NCM 0113 Instructor

Peer Evaluated by:

Delma Joie Magtubo. RN LPT MAN

Faculty, College of Nursing

Carlo Borrico, RN MPH Ph.D

Faculty, College of Nursing

Reviewed and Evaluated by:

Debbie Ramirez, RN Ph.D

Assistant Dean

Hydee Pangilinan, RN MN
CHN Coordinator

Annalyn Paano, RN MAN

Level III Academic Coordinator

Approved by:

Zenaida Fernandez, RN Ph.D

Dean, College of Nursing

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