Final answer:
In conducting informant interviews, a community health nurse would most likely contact a local priest for congregation information. Local sources provide immediate community-level data, while the CDC uses the data for national surveillance. Mortality rates are calculated using data from death records maintained by health departments.
Step-by-step explanation:
A community health nurse conducting informant interviews in a small community would most likely contact a local priest for congregation information. This approach is consistent with the practice of conducting interviews in a setting familiar to the informant to help them feel at ease. This information can be invaluable because it provides insight into the health and social dynamics of the local population. Such interviews may also involve survey questions and can contribute to a better understanding of community health needs and resources.
Health agencies commonly obtain data about the incidence of diseases of public health importance through the National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System (NNDSS), overseen by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Therefore, while the CDC does play a crucial role in monitoring public health, it is usually the local sources that provide immediate and specific community-level information for community health nurses conducting interviews.
To calculate mortality rates within a population, researchers typically gather data from vital statistics offices or health departments that maintain death records. This data can then be analyzed to determine mortality rates and identify public health concerns within that population.