AbstractA review of the historical evolution of the concept of community health diagnosis in nursing identifies sources of ambiguity that have impeded making the goals and values of community health nursing operational. Refinements of meaning in the conceptualization of the community health diagnosis that focus upon the community as the primary level of analysis are suggested. Implications of this reconceptualization of the practice of community health nursing are considered in guidelines for developing community health diagnoses and in an example of the diagnosis of a Mien refugee community's responses to health problems.