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Core Competencies

Core competencies encompass essential knowledge and skills that are widely considered necessary to work in a field.

 

Most workforce development opportunities offered by Safe States Alliance through the Training Center are mapped to both the Core Competencies for Injury and Violence Prevention and the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals. Some workforce development opportunities may reflect additional competencies, such as the Public Health Preparedness and Response Core Competencies.

 

Learn more about core competencies

• Core Competencies for Injury and Violence Prevention
• Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals
• Public Health Preparedness and Response Core Competencies
• Applied Epidemiology Competencies

Search for specific core competencies

Search for trainings addressing specific sets of core competencies and sub-competencies.

 

 

Core Competencies for Injury and Violence Prevention

Safe States Alliance partnered with the Society for the Advancement of Violence and Injury Research (SAVIR) in 2000 to form the National Training Initiative for Injury and Violence Prevention (NTI) and begin defining essential knowledge and skills that injury and violence prevention professionals need to reach their greatest potential in the field. Through this initiative, both organizations worked together, and with other partners, to develop the Core Competencies for Injury and Violence Prevention to address the training needs of professionals working in this field.

For more information:

• About the Core Competencies for Injury and Violence Prevention
• List of Core Competencies for Injury and Violence Prevention
• Ideas & Tools for Using Core Competencies for Injury and Violence Prevention

About the Core Competencies for Injury and Violence Prevention

The Core Competencies for Injury and Violence Prevention encompass essential knowledge and skills that are widely considered necessary to work in the field of injury and violence prevention. These competencies provide a basis for workforce development in this field and are intended to guide workforce and curriculum development efforts.

It is not expected that an individual will need to be an expert in all of the competencies in order to effectively carry out his or her job. Rather, the individual should be competent in the blend of skills that is required to best serve injury and violence prevention programs in a specific setting.

 

For more information about the development and use of these core competencies:

• Introduction to the Core Competencies provides a short description of the background behind the development of the core competencies
• FAQs about the Core Competencies
• Proficiency level assessment tool includes a grid illustrating desired proficiencies at entry, mid and senior levels, and can be used in assessing individual and organizational capacity  
• Mapping to the Public Health Competencies is a tool created by the Council on Linkages between Academia and Public Health Practice to illustrate how the Core Competencies for Injury and Violence Prevention compare and relate to the standard skill set in the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals
• Glossary of Injury & Violence Prevention Terms provides clarity to terms used in the core competencies

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List of Core Competencies for Injury and Violence Prevention

The core competencies are listed below. Click here to download a list of these core competencies with detailed learning objectives.

 

1. Ability to describe and explain injury and/or violence as a major social and health problem.
2. Ability to access, interpret, use and present injury and/or violence data.
3. Ability to design and implement injury and/or violence prevention activities.
4. Ability to evaluate injury and/or violence prevention activities.
5. Ability to build and manage an injury and/or violence prevention program.
6. Ability to disseminate information related to injury and/or violence prevention to the community, other professionals, key policy makers and leaders through diverse communication networks.
7. Ability to stimulate change related to injury and/or violence prevention through policy, enforcement, advocacy, and education.
8. Ability to maintain and further develop competency as an injury and/or violence prevention professional.
9. Demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and best practices necessary to address at least one specific injury and/or violence topic (e.g. motor vehicle occupant injury, intimate partner violence, fire and burns, suicide, drowning, child injury, etc.) and be able to serve as a resource regarding that area.

 

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Ideas & Tools for Using Core Competencies for Injury and Violence Prevention

The Core Competencies for Injury and Violence Prevention can be used to:

• develop trainings
• assess organizational or individual competencies (see self-assessment link below)
• advocate for additional funding to achieve organizational competency
• plan strategically for program growth
• identify proficiencies needed in community partners
• assist in evaluating potential applicants for positions within an organization focused on injury and/or violence prevention 

  

Helpful tools for using the core competencies include:

• Self-assessments based on the Core Competencies for Injury and Violence Prevention and the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals
• The Proficiency level assessment tool includes a grid illustrating desired proficiencies (at entry, mid and senior levels) and can be used in assessing individual and organizational capacity

 

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Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals

 

The Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals encompass essential knowledge and skills that are widely considered necessary to work in the broad field of public health (defined by the 10 Essential Public Health Services).

 

These core competencies:

• were developed by the Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice and reflect the “foundational skills desirable for professionals engaging in the practice, education, and research of public health.”
• are organized into eight domains that reflect skill areas within public health, and three tiers, which represent career stages for public health professionals.
• were updated in 2014, with previous versions adopted in 2010 and 2001.

 

As described on the Public Health Foundation’s webpage on the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals, these competencies “provide a framework for workforce development planning and action, and can serve as a starting point for public health professionals and organizations as they work to better understand and meet workforce development needs, improve performance, prepare for accreditation, and enhance the health of the communities they serve.”

 

The Public Health Foundation’s webpage provides extensive information and resources for these competencies, including:

• Core Competencies Tools
• Examples of Core Competencies Use
• Frequently Asked Questions about the Core Competencies
• Upcoming Events featuring the Core Competencies
• Recent News and Blog Discussion about the Core Competencies
• On-site Technical Assistance related to the Core Competencies

 

See the Safe States Alliance Training Center’s Self-Assessments page for the Competency Assessments for Public Health tool.

 

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Public Health Preparedness and Response Core Competencies

The Public Health Preparedness and Response Core Competencies establish a common performance goal for the public health preparedness workforce: to proficiently perform assigned prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery role(s) in accordance with established national, state, and local health security and public health policies, laws, and systems.  These competencies – and an individual's ability to meet the common performance goal – are based on competencies acquired from three sources: foundational public health competencies, generic health security or emergency core competencies, and position-specific or professional competencies.

 

The competencies are listed below.  A detailed document and the Public Health Preparedness and Response Competency Map can be found here.

 

1. Model Leadership

• 1.1 Solve problems under emergency conditions.
• 1.2 Manage behaviors associated with emotional responses in self and others.
• 1.3 Facilitate collaboration with internal and external emergency response partners.
• 1.4 Maintain situational awareness.
• 1.5 Demonstrate respect for all persons and cultures.
• 1.6 Act within the scope of one's legal authority.
  
  

2. Communicate and Model Information

• 2.1 Manage information related to an emergency.
• 2.2 Use principles of crisis and risk communication.
• 2.3 Report information potentially relevant to the identification and control of an emergency through the chain of command.
• 2.4 Collect data according to protocol.
• 2.5 Manage the recording and/or transcription of data according to protocol.
  
  

3. Plan for and Improve Practice

• 3.1 Contribute expertise to a community hazard vulnerability analysis (HVA).
• 3.2 Contribute expertise to the development of emergency plans.
• 3.3 Participate in improving the organization's capacities (including, but not limited to programs, plans, policies, laws, and workforce training).
• 3.4 Refer matters outside of one's scope of legal authority through the chain of command.
  
  

4. Protect Worker Health and Safety

• 4.1 Maintain personal/family emergency preparedness plans.
• 4.2 Employ protective behaviors according to changing conditions, personal limitations, and threats.
• 4.3 Report unresolved threats to physical and mental health through the chain of command.

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Applied Epidemiology Competencies

The Council for State and Territorial Epidemiologists and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention developed the Competencies for Applied Epidemiologists in Governmental Public Health Agencies (Applied Epidemiology Competencies, or AECs) to improve the practice of epidemiology within the public health system. 

The AECs were developed within the framework of the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals and were created with three primary audiences in mind:

• Practitioners: to assess current skills, create career development plans, and plan specific training
• Employers: to create career ladders for employees, develop position descriptions and job qualifications, develop training plans for employees, determine compensation, and assess epidemiologic capacity of the organization
• Educators: to design programs that train the next generation of epidemiologists to meet the needs of public health agencies, incorporate critical elements of epidemiologic practice into existing coursework, and provide continuing education to the current workforce

 

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