Injuries disproportionately affect American Indian communities, yet few efforts focus on training students or building workforce capacity in injury and violence prevention (IVP) within these communities. To address this gap, a collaborative planning team from Diné College, Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy, and Indian Health Service Injury Prevention Programme met biweekly during the 2023–2025 academic years to integrate IVP into undergraduate public health training.
The collaboration incorporated IVP competencies into public health courses and supported student practicum experiences. Injury prevention experts delivered 10 presentations across eight courses in 2023–2024, expanding to 13 courses in 2024–2025. Eight student practica were coordinated, addressing suicide prevention, motor vehicle safety (eg, child car seat use, seatbelt utilisation) and home safety (eg, smoke and carbon monoxide alarms). Key informant interviews were conducted to gather insights from the faculty and students in the courses with guest lectures on injury prevention. Interview findings reflected three themes: (1) recognition of injury prevention as a public health issue, (2) the need for community-based research and knowledge dissemination and (3) the importance of building student capacity by embedding injury prevention into the curriculum.
This initiative represents the first documented effort to integrate IVP competencies into public health courses at a tribal college. Through classroom instruction, mentoring and practica, this collaboration builds workforce capacity, fosters student engagement in IVP, and contributes to advancing health equity in injury outcomes for tribal communities.