# Navajo NARCH Partnership

> **NIH NIH S06** · DINE' COLLEGE · 2021 · $268,995

## Abstract

PROJECT ABSTRACT
Navajo Nation (NN) has been a leader in the launch of COVID-19 vaccines. On April 9, 2021, NN reported
37.4% of the Nation’s residents as full vaccinated. In comparison on the same date, CDC reported 19.9% of
US adults as being fully vaccinated. Yet vaccine hesitancy does exist in NN. Based on interviews conducted by
the media and review of digital platform discussions, vaccine hesitancy is grounded in historical mistrust of the
government and more recently, misinformation and conspiracies theories promulgated in social media. In other
cases, some are concerned they would be “stealing a spot” from an elder or fellow citizen with underlying
health conditions. Trusted health messengers and culturally centered information are effective means of health
education leading to behavior change in NN. The proposed study, Diné Teachings and Public Health Students
Informing Peers and Relatives about Vaccine Education (RAVE), will integrate these two determinants, trust
and culture, to address adults’ vaccine concerns and hesitancy. The objective is to increase their knowledge
of vaccine safety and shift their intention to get vaccinated. Trusted messengers, Diné (Navajo) public health
students will be trained to deliver culturally centered, scientifically accurate vaccine safety information and use
Diné specific relationality and etiquette to talk to peers and relatives who self-identify as vaccine hesitant.
Traditional Knowledge Holders will be interviewed to document cultural teachings that address individual and
collective health behaviors. This cultural knowledge will guide the adaptation of state available materials
developed for lay health educators. The goal of this Administrative Supplement is to assess Diné public
health students’ ability to use culturally centered vaccine safety education to shift vaccine hesitancy to
intention in their Diné peers and relatives. This goal aligns with the workforce capacity building mission of
the parent award, the Navajo Native American Research Center for Health Partnership, a collaboration
between Diné College, a tribal college of the NN, and Northern Arizona University. RAVE proposes three aims
to address this goal: 1) Document a minimum of 25% of Diné College student, faculty, and staff’s own vaccine
hesitancy and their perception of their peers and family members’ vaccine hesitancy; 2) Train Diné College a
minimum of 35 public health students as health messengers able to provide culturally centered, scientifically
valid education about vaccine safety to a minimum of 10 NN residents, each; and 3) Document change in a
minimum of 350 Diné adults’ knowledge of vaccine safety after receiving the education provided by a health
messenger. The Navajo NARCH team is uniquely positioned to assess vaccine hesitancy in a subgroup within
the NN and to prepare students as health messengers to leverage their education and relationships to provide
vaccine safety information to their peers and relatives. Achiev...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10400524
- **Project number:** 3S06GM123550-04S1
- **Recipient organization:** DINE' COLLEGE
- **Principal Investigator:** MARK C BAUER
- **Activity code:** S06 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $268,995
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2017-09-15 → 2022-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10400524

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10400524, Navajo NARCH Partnership (3S06GM123550-04S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-08 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10400524. Licensed CC0.

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