May 2005: The core competencies for injury and violence prevention have been released!
The core competencies outline a common understanding of the essential skills and knowledge that are regarded as necessary to work in injury and violence prevention. These competencies provide a basis for professional development and are intended to guide future training and curriculum development efforts. It is not expected that an individual will have to be an expert in all of the competencies in order to effectively carry out their job. The intent is that the individual should be competent in the mix of skills that is required to best serve injury and violence prevention programs in their setting. Ultimately, with research-based training and consistent implementation of best practices, it will be possible to reduce the burden of injury.
Please feel free to use these competencies in developing training, assessing organizational or individual competency, advocating for additional funding to achieve organizational competency, planning strategically for program growth, identifying proficiencies needed in community partners and assisting in evaluating potential applicants for positions within your organization.
How to get a copy of the core competencies? Please click on the following links.
Core
Competencies for Injury and Violence Prevention (PDF)
Core
Competencies for Injury and Violence Prevention (Word)
If you are unable to access these links, please email J'Ingrid Mathis at jcmathis@unc.edu.
Accompanying Documents:
Introduction to the Core Competencies: A short description of the background behind the development of the core competencies
Glossary of Injury and Violence Prevention Terms
Proficiency Levels: A tool to assess organizational capacity and competency
Mapping to the Public Health Competencies: A tool that illustrates how the injury and violence prevention competency set compares and relates to the standard skill set in the public health core competencies created by the Council on Linkages between Academia and Public Health Practice
Not sure how to use the competencies or how they could help you in your work? Read about the different ways that some practitioners have already put the core competencies to use in their work. Please click on the following link.
Suggested Citation: Core Competencies for Injury and Violence Prevention. Developed by the National Training Initiative for Injury and Violence Prevention (NTI)--a joint project of the State and Territorial Injury Prevention Directors Association (STIPDA) and the Society for the Advancement of Violence and Injury Research (SAVIR). May 2005. Available at http://www.injuryed.org/competencies.htm
Essentials of Injury &
Violence Prevention:
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Why develop injury prevention competencies?
The field of injury
prevention includes a wide variety of professionals focusing on unintentional,
intentional and unknown mechanisms of injury. By creating a common
understanding of the essential skills and knowledge necessary to excel as injury
prevention professionals, we are able to identify areas for future training and
strengthen the field as a whole. Ultimately, with increased training, published
standards and the consistent implementation of best practices, we can reduce the
burden of injury.
Who’s the audience?
Each year, an estimated 8,000 professionals in health departments, other
state agencies, local organizations, and community coalitions could benefit from
training in the essentials of injury and violence prevention. The field is
diverse, ranging from full-time injury and violence prevention program directors
within state, local or tribal health departments to local injury prevention
coalition coordinators to fire, police and emergency medical personnel and a
host of other professionals.
What do injury prevention
professionals need to know?
This is a fundamental question that has been discussed by practitioners and
researchers for decades. The draft core competencies below are a first attempt
at answering that question. When finalized, the general competencies (and their
specific measurable objectives) will serve as a foundation for a myriad of
workforce development efforts from individual skill assessment to continuing
education curriculum development.
How have the core competencies been developed?
In 2001, the State and Territorial Injury Prevention Directors Association
(STIPDA) and the Society for the Advancement of Violence and Injury
Research (SAVIR) formed the Joint Committee on Infrastructure Development and began
collaborating on a process for identifying the essential knowledge and skills
that injury prevention professionals should possess to be competent in the
field. Committee members and project staff reviewed information from the needs
assessments and other documents listed below. The Core Competency Working Group
created a working draft and made recommendations to the full committee regarding
the nine competencies and their learning objectives. The full committee then
reached consensus on an initial draft version and the process for reviewing the
document.
What did the review process entail?
In order to ensure that the Core Competencies accurately reflect the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed as an
injury and/or violence prevention professional, a panel of approximately 50
experts were appointed to review the competencies. These individuals were nominated from a variety of organizations and were selected based on
established guidelines. Feedback from the review panel was received in October
2003.
Click here for the list of the
reviewers.
The Core Competency Working Group assessed the feedback and recommended a revised set of competencies to the full Joint Committee for Infrastructure development. The Joint Committee opened the document to public comment in September of 2004. The competencies were revised for a final time based on the comments received from practitioners across the country. In May of 2005, the competencies were officially released at the National Injury Prevention and Control Conference.
Needs assessments reviewed:
Education Development Center, Training Needs Assessment, 1989
UNC-Injury Prevention Research Center, Pre-VINCENT Training Needs Assessment, 1996
STIPDA Core Capacity Survey, 2000
Canadian Collaborating Centres for Injury Prevention and Control, Education Needs Assessment, 2000
SAVIR - STIPDA Joint Committee on Infrastructure Development, Training Survey of Health Departments, 2001
SAVIR - STIPDA Joint Committee on Infrastructure Development, Survey of Safe USA participants, 2001
Relevant competency and objective materials reviewed:
Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals, Council on Linkages between Academia and Public Health Practice
Core Competencies for Injury Prevention, Indian Health Service
State and Technical Assessment Team Review Guide, STIPDA
Course Objectives, Johns Hopkins Summer Institute, Principles and Practice of Injury Prevention
Canadian Injury Prevention and Control Curriculum, Canadian Collaborative Centres for Injury Prevention and Control (in draft)
WHO TEACH-VIP – international injury prevention curriculum (in draft)
Competency-to Curriculum Tool Tool Kit: Developing Curricula for Public Health Workers, Columbia University School of Nursing Center for Health Policy and Association of Preventive Medicine