A community can be broadly defined as the number of separate or groups of individuals who reside within a given human environment (Ervin, 2002). Individuals in a community are socially and culturally harmonized for mutual gain. On the same note, researchers view a community as an organization composed of individuals whose interests are more or less the same although they largely co-exist as they serve one another. Nevertheless, interdependent individuals in a particular locality have general interests unlike other organizations that have special interests. Definitely, people in the same community have relatively similar destiny, culture, history as well as heritage (Clark, 2008). However, it is imperative to note that individuals in a community may not always have common interests.
On the other hand, an aggregate is best described as the functional unit of a community. Hence, it is evident that multiple aggregates make up a community. Literally, an aggregate would comprise group of individuals who have similar personal, social or environmental characteristics. Apparently, an aggregate population can be identified as a subgroup of the entire community population. Definitely, aggregates define the nature of a society. A community is also composed of subgroups such as those attached to ethnicity, age, religion and social interests. Moreover, certain individuals may belong to more than one aggregate within a community. Therefore, an aggregate can be identified on the basis of common factors such as age, religion, heritage, education, ethnicity and social economic status (Stone, McGuire & Gerber, 2002). Additionally, common likes among individuals who abuse drugs might make up an aggregate.
Evidently, there is significant difference between a community and an aggregate population (Stone, McGuire & Gerber, 2002). For instance, a community is broader in composition while an aggregate is part of a community. In this case, the latter is the whole while former is part of the whole. It is worth noting that an aggregate can be formed by components from various communities. For instance, we may have an aggregate of drug users who come from different communities though the incumbent forms just a small portion.
Certainly, a community is not an aggregate. Moreover, a community is very diverse comprising of individuals with diversified characteristics that might be social, cultural or political. On the other hand, an aggregate narrows on a specific aspect that defines a certain group of people (Anon, 2011). This might include age, social interests, ethnicity or heritage. Therefore, members of a particular aggregate may share common characteristic but are not unified in other aspects (Anon, 2011). Essentially, they may have different aspects but have one aspect in common such as age and political ideologies. Shedding light on this, individuals in an aggregate might not reside in a common locality unlike the case of a community.
it is definite that there are several aggregates that one can assess during community health nursing. For example, it is possible to sport out aggregates for drug addicts, teenagers, and pregnant women (Clark, 2008). On the same note, individual with diabetes, mental problems and other health complications form aggregates of their own. These groups have similar interests that are related to their condition. Hence, in a community nursing practice, it is pertinent for health practitioners to make their services more specific in order to increase efficiency with the wider community as well as among specific aggregate groups.
References
Anon. (2011). Community/public health nursing promoting the health of population. Australian nursing journal, 19(1), 32.
Clark, M. (2008). Community health nursing: Advocacy for population health (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Ervin, N. (2002). Advanced community health nursing practice. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Stone S., McGuire, S. & Gerber, D. (2002).Comprehensive community health nursing: family, aggregate & community practice. Missouri: Mosby, Inc.