Utilizing Digital Storytelling and Youth Participatory Approach to Develop a High School Pathway Component to Increase the American Indian Public Health Workforce

Abstract

BACKGROUND: American Indian individuals are extremely underrepresented in the healthcare and public health workforce. One effective approach to reduce health disparities and improve health care delivery among Indigenous Peoples is to train more American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) health professionals who understand cultural influences on healthcare. This dissertation addressed the need for an AI culturally grounded approach to engage high school students in public health professional opportunities through digital storytelling in a reservation community on the Navajo Nation. OBJECTIVES: This dissertation aims to 1) Establish a community advisory board (CAB) 2) Conduct Digital Storytelling (DST) to assess strategies college students use to navigate from high school to a public health major at and the tribal college; 3) Use Diné Educational Philosophy (DEP) framework and strategies documented in Aim 2 to develop the curriculum 4) Evaluate participation perceptions of the two-phase (DST) process. METHODS: Aim 1, establishment of the CAB formed community over site for the project. Aim 2 focused on utilizing DST in a two- phase process. Phase one consisted of training three AI high school youth in digital storytelling. In phase two, the youth digital storytelling team worked collaboratively with seven AI students enrolled at the local tribal college to develop digital stories (n=10). Aim 3 used backward design to develop the curriculum. Aim 4 is the qualitative analysis of the DST process from the perspective of the AI high school and college students. RESULTS: The results by specific aim yielded 1) Four CAB meetings to guide the project; 2) Seven culturally relevant digital stories and highlighted success strategies in transitioning from high school to college; 3) School-based health profession pathway curriculum; 4) Themes related to participating in the DST process included learning a new skill, building relationships, giving back to the community, as well as distinct findings between the high school and college students. CONCLUSION: The current project resulted in a curriculum for AI high school students to actively engage in exploring health professional pathways in their community. These findings also highlighted the importance of building or strengthening existing relationships between local AI health professionals and tribal college and high school students to form sustainable workforce development programs.