An innovative model for conducting a participatory community health assessment.

Understanding a community's perceived health care needs is essential to the promotion of community health. The purpose of this article is to review various methodologies used to assess community health care needs, and then provide a case example of a transcultural exploration of perceived health care needs of the residents of Utila, Honduras. This study presents a template for using unique assessment tools to empower communities to identify their health care needs. Implications for future transcultural community nursing studies are discussed.