Water is K'e: Learning from the Navajo Community to Promote Early Child Health 

Report Publish Date: January 3, 2024

This journal article describes a campaign to promote and increase access to safe drinking water on the Navajo Nation reservation, using community input and involvement. 

Primary Takeaways

• Researchers need adequate time and resources to conduct research in partnership with communities.
• Listening to the community and conducting small pilots within the larger project allowed the researchers to create a flexible strategy that worked for the community.
• How people choose what they and their children drink is influenced by “a complex set of factors including health literacy, family tastes and preferences, cultural teachers, and water access,” the authors say.

Overview and Objectives

Many people on the Navajo Nation reservation do not have easy or affordable access to clean drinking water. The researchers wanted to design an intervention that got more kids drinking more water instead of sugary drinks. They wanted to work with the community to come up with the best solutions, rather than coming to them with a set strategy. They believed this approach would lead to better success. 

Hypothesis and Approach 

The authors used a socioecological framework, which considers the various factors that influence health decisions and behaviors: environmental, community, interpersonal, and individual.

They also used a community-based participatory approach, or CBPR, in which community members and scientists are equal partners. 

They engaged a community advisory group made up of teachers, activists, cultural experts, health experts, parents, and elders. 

They conducted the project in two phases. In phase 1, they listened to the community, using different methods to collect and analyze data from people in different age groups.

In phase 2, the authors and their community partners, including the community advisory group, designed and refined a set of interventions meant to share traditional practices related to water and increase children’s access to drinking water.

How This Influences Change

“The solutions to health disparities lie within the community itself,” the authors write.