Sharon A. Brown|Alexandra A. Garcia|Kamiar Kouzekanani|Craig L. Hanis
Culturally Competent Diabetes Self-Management Education for Mexican Americans
The University of Texas at Austin|The University of Texas at Austin|The University of Texas at Austin|The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
determine effects culturally competent diabetes selfmanagement intervention mexican americans type 2 diabetesa prospective randomized repeated measures study conducted texasmexico border starr county total 256 randomly selected individuals type 2 diabetes 35 70 years age diagnosed type 2 diabetes 35 years age accompanied family member friend included intervention consisted 52 contact hours 12 months provided bilingual mexican american nurses dietitians community workers intervention involved 3 months weekly instructional sessions nutrition selfmonitoring blood glucose exercise selfcare topics 6 months biweekly support group sessions promote behavior changes approach culturally competent terms language diet social emphasis family participation incorporation cultural health beliefs outcomes included indicators metabolic control hba1c fasting blood glucose diabetes knowledge diabetesrelated health beliefsexperimental groups showed significantly lower levels hba1c fasting blood glucose 6 12 months higher diabetes knowledge scores 6 months mean hba1c experimental subjects 14 mean control group however mean level experimental subjects still high 10this study confirms effectiveness culturally competent diabetes selfmanagement education improving health outcomes mexican americans particularly individuals hba1c levels 10