A community health nurse is planning a program for young adults about STI prevention. Which of the following actions should the nurse take first when preparing this program?

When planning any educational program, the nursing process dictates that assessment always comes before intervention. Collecting data to identify learners' current knowledge base is the first action because it drives every subsequent decision — what topics to cover, how deep to go, and which teaching methods are appropriate. Without this assessment step, the nurse risks creating content that is too basic, too advanced, or simply irrelevant to the audience. Young adults may already possess some STI knowledge from prior education, and their specific gaps, cultural backgrounds, literacy levels, and learning preferences must be understood before a program is designed. Arranging computer-assisted learning is a method choice that cannot be made wisely until the learner's needs are known. Identifying topics with health department nurses is a planning action that should follow the needs assessment, not precede it. Developing content appropriate to learner needs is a later planning step that depends entirely on what the assessment reveals. The principle here mirrors the nursing process: assess first, then diagnose or plan, then implement. Jumping to content development or technology selection before understanding the audience produces programs that miss the mark and waste resources, which is especially problematic in community health settings where engagement and behavior change are the ultimate goals.