Navajo Maternal and Child Health Needs Assessment Workshop:
Process and Implications
Schedule of events
11 –11:10 a.m. Introduction to needs assessment process
- SNBH framework
- Navajo NARCH partnership between Diné College and NAU
- Navajo Maternal and Child Health Advisory Council
- Public health students
11:10-11:30 a.m. Demonstration on finding/collecting data sources for Navajo
- Quantitative data retrieval — Diné College
- Reports
- Data requests
- Online databases
- Research articles
- Analysis
- Qualitative — Northern Arizona University
- Questionnaires
- Input sessions — in-person and virtual
- Analysis
11:30-11:40 p.m. Outcomes/findings
- Virtual priority setting sessions
- Established priority areas
11:40–11:50 a.m. Break
11:50 a.m.–12:05 p.m. Dissemination plan
- Mail report to chapter houses and MCH stakeholders
- Present to tribal officials, MCH programs, universities,
- Creation of infographic
- PowerPoint for community members
- Next steps
12:05–12:15 p.m. Implications for implementation in Tribal communities
12:15–1:30 p.m. Panel session
Speakers
Amber-Rose Waters, Navajo MCH Needs Assessment Coordinator — Diné College
Ms. Amber-Rose Waters studied and attained her Associate of Science in public health and Bachelor of Arts in psychology at Diné College (a tribal college of the Navajo Nation) on the Navajo Nation. She has a strong background in research among the Navajo community implementing Indigenous research methods and Community Based Participatory Research methods while researching topics related to behavioral and social health. She coordinated the Navajo Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Needs Assessment which was a collaboration between the Navajo NARCH Partnership, a partnership between Northern Arizona University and Diné College, and the Navajo Nation Department of Health with support from Arizona Department of Health. For this position she has planned and coordinated the needs assessment process having co-instructed nine senior level public health undergrad students on their practicum work with the Navajo MCH needs assessment; conducted meetings with advisory council members and weekly team meetings; specifically worked on secondary data retrieval and analysis; presented the findings back to stakeholders to set priorities in maternal and child health; and completed the written needs assessment report which is the first for the Navajo Nation.
Other projects she is currently engaged in includes the Summer Research Enhancement Program (SREP), Indigenous Summer Enhancement Program (ISEP), Navajo NARCH high school internship and a high school service-learning program. She is a growing public health professional and is developing skills in creating and implementing culturally appropriate health education for Navajo communities with her previous position at the Diné College HIV Prevention Program. She has assisted with coordinating, mentoring and educating young public health professionals in the SREP and ISEP programs working with team members to create innovative and engaging practices to reach students and other stakeholders.
Kristen Tallis, Qualitative Data Collection and Analysis — Northern Arizona University
Kristen Tallis (Diné), MPH, is from Black Mesa, AZ and is a graduate of Northern Arizona University College of Health Sciences (NAU). Her public health training began as a Native American Cancer Prevention Scholar first studying cancer prevention and survivorship. Kristen previously worked as a research specialist at NAU and coordinated projects aimed at health policy and health disparities. She is now a program coordinator for the Family Spirit Home-Visiting Program in Chinle, AZ.
Dr. Nicolette Teufel-Shone, Qualitative Data Collection and Analysis — Northern Arizona University
Dr. Teufel-Shone, Associate Director of the Center for Health Equity Research & Professor of Health Sciences, Northern Arizona University. She has an academic background in anthropology and nutrition. She has collaborated with Native American communities primarily in the Southwest for more than 30 years. Her work with community partners has focused on enhancing Native Nations’ capacity to develop effective health promotion programs to reduce chronic disease and to leverage collective resilience to build healthy Nations.
Indian Health Service and the National Congress of American Indians have recognized her commitment and long-term partnerships with Native Nations. Currently, she serves on the editorial board of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health and is a guest editor for Frontiers in Public Health.
Marissa Tutt, Qualitative Data Collection and Analysis — Northern Arizona University
Marissa Tutt, MPH is a research coordinator for the Center for Health Equity Research at Northern Arizona University (NAU). Her primary work is with Navajo NARCH, a partnership with NAU and Dine College. Through the Navajo NARCH partnership, she worked on the Navajo Maternal and Child Health Needs Assessment on the qualitative data. She helped with the primary data collection and analysis from the adolescent, caregiver, and provider input sessions. Marissa received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from NAU, both in public health.
Dr. Christopher Dickerson, Quantitative Data Retrieval and Analysis — Diné College
With degrees in Health Services Research, Policy, & Administration (PhD, MS – Minnesota), Political Science (BA – Eastern Kentucky), and Biology, Christopher J. Dickerson has a strong understanding of the sciences broadly, both social/behavioral and biological which he bringing to public health and healthcare education. Currently, Faculty of Public Health at Dine College based in Shiprock, NM, Dr. Dickerson’s academic orientation is toward education, teaching and mentoring students in preparation for attaining their desired future goals. He is well versed in the design and methodology of research in a variety of fashions, having conducted both qualitative and quantitative research; collected primary data and examined secondary data; integrated large and disparate data sources for geographic analysis; conducted Quality Improvement analysis on a contract basis; and engaged in research in the social, healthcare, and biological sciences. He has consulted on or reviewed BA (Public Health), BS (Biology), MS, MPH, PhD, DSN, & PsyD projects. Ultimately, health and health-related education is about people; improving the lives of those around us so he has strong interests in the health professions, health disparities, rural health, epidemiology & disease, health-research design, and the psychology & sociology of health and health care. Research and health education cannot be limited to the classroom, we must engage our communities and build bridges with others seeking to improve health, scholarship in translation and application, thus Dr. Dickerson has lent his expertise to collaborative and community projects such as 2020 Navajo Nation Maternal-Child Health Needs Assessment and the Manchester-Clay County Pedestrian Cycling Plan. Health research not translated to practice and society is ultimately of limited value, so Dr. Dickerson seeks to translate and educate; scholarship in application.
Craig Manning, Editing and Design — Diné College
Craig began his public health communications career at the World Health Organization (WHO), working first with the Communicable Disease Surveillance group, and later with WHO’s immunization and HIV/AIDS programs. He joined CDC’s Viral Special Pathogens Branch (VSPB) in 2007, deploying as a communications specialist on CDC outbreak response missions to Uganda and west Africa for Ebola outbreaks, and elsewhere internationally. Before and following his retirement from CDC in 2017, he has worked closely with the Navajo Department of Health’s Navajo Epidemiology Center. He continues his work at Diné College on Navajo Nation, where he shares his knowledge of health communication with students. His interests include health mapping, health ecology, and preparedness and response.
Martín Celaya, Chief of Assessment and Evaluation Bureau of Women’s and Children’s Health — Arizona Department of Health
Karinne Dohi, Senior-level Public Health Student — Diné College
Karinne is from Chinle, Arizona. She is a Dine College alumni, she graduated in fall of 2020 with a Bachelor of Science in public health. Karinne was part of the Dine College senior level cohort quantitative analysis team when contributing to this report.