Program Overview

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Public Health Training Certificate for American Indian Health Professionals

Overview

The Public Health Training Certificate for American Indian Health Professionals is designed to promote participants' capacity to address Indigenous population health disparities through multidisciplinary public health approaches and culturally competent strategies. The certificate program examines four quadrants of influence: physical, behavioral, political, and spiritual/emotional, which, in balance, comprise the sphere of public health for Indigenous communities.

Educational Objectives

Students completing the certificate program will be able to:

• Discuss how tribal sovereignty status impacts health policy and management
• Understand the potential interface of tribal, federal, and private sectors in health system development
• Discuss and provide examples of inter-relationships between the environment and the public's health
• Describe the unique impact of mental, social, and emotional health status on tribal community well-being
• Describe the components of effective community education and health communication campaigns
• Understand factors affecting early child development unique to tribal communities

Public Health Research Skills

Those completing the certificate will be able to employ public health theory and logic frameworks and apply basic statistical, demographic, and epidemiologic techniques to:

• Critique published public health research
• Identify available disease, behavioral, and mental health surveillance data from Indigenous communities
• Identify how community-based participatory research can be used to promote Indigenous health
• Understand how to identify health priority needs utilizing community-based participatory research methods and to evaluate intervention impacts using health surveillance data from Indigenous communities
• Work with epidemiologists and other researchers to design community-based interventions and other data collection efforts appropriate for Indigenous communities
• Recognize good data management practices
• Understand the importance of research ethics and the composition and function of Institutional Review Boards (IRBs), with specific emphasis on IRB's role in tribal environments

Admissions

Complete certificate program admissions information is available on the certificate program page on the Bloomberg School of Public Health (BSPH) website.

Sponsoring Department

The sponsoring department for this certificate program is International Health.

Requirements for Successful Completion

This certificate requires a minimum of 18 term credits. All required and elective courses must be taken for a letter grade; a minimum grade of C is required in all certificate coursework, and students must maintain a 2.75 or better overall GPA for all certificate coursework. The certificate program length is flexible and varies from student to student; however, the certificate must be completed within three years.

Course of Study

Students should check the BSPH course directory to confirm when the courses are offered. Students should also check for prerequisites and whether instructor consent is required.

The following courses are required for the certificate:

• PH.221.666: Introduction to American Indian Health Research Ethics (typically offered every other year in Summer Institute)
• PH.221.667: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Understanding the Health of Native Americans (typically offered in Winter Institute)
• PH.221.670: Collecting, Analyzing and Using Public Health Data in Native American Communities (typically offered every other year, in Summer Institute)

Elective courses include:

• PH.221.664: Prevention of Unintentional Injuries in American Indian Communities (typically offered in Winter Institute, every other year)
• PH.221.665: Early Childhood Intervention in Tribal Communities (typically offered in Summer Institute, every other year)
• PH.221.668: COVID-19 & Infectious Disease Outbreaks in Native American Communities (typically offered in Summer Institute)
• PH.221.669: American Indian Health Policy (typically offered every other year, in Summer Institute)
• PH.221.671: Introduction to Quantitative and Qualitative Research for American Indian Health (typically offered every other year, in Summer Institute)
• PH.221.672: Introduction to Data Management Using American Indian Health Data (typically offered every other year, in Summer Institute)
• PH.221.673: Mental Health in American Indian Communities (typically offered every other year, in Winter Institute)
• PH.224.612: Indigenous Perspectives on Environmental Health
• PH.224.631: Indigenous Harm Reduction

Students must complete at least 10 credits of elective coursework.