The Asian American Diabetes Awareness and Education in the Community is a 5-year effort to assess diabetes prevalence in the Asian American community in Houston, develop appropriate cultural and linguistic educational materials, and develop interventions to prevent and control diabetes. Ten focus groups (49 Chinese, 55 Vietnamese) were conducted in the community to assess understanding of diabetes and self care practices of people with diabetes and to determine best methods for information dissemination. Fifty-two percent of focus group participants had diabetes. RESULTS: Informal resources of health information include family, friends, and native language newspapers and radio. Participants without diabetes had less awareness of and knowledge about the disease, its symptoms, and ways to reduce risk. Participants with diabetes showed greater knowledge of diabetes risks, symptoms, and health maintenance behaviors. They were also more familiar with ethnic treatments for diabetes. However, prior to diabetes diagnosis, most were not aware of nor had any knowledge of diabetes. Family support was cited as instrumental to successfully controlling diabetes. All participants reported fear of diabetes and its complications, frustration with the lack of accessible health services and health information in their native languages, and cited problems of maintaining health once diabetes is diagnosed. CONCLUSION: Awareness of diabetes appear linked to diagnosis of diabetes. High fear of diabetes may be due to lack of accessible information about diabetes. Culture directly influences participants’ health beliefs and behaviors. Targeted diabetes education and self-management skills training for people with diabetes is very much needed in this community.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Asian Americans, Diabetes
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Harris County Hospital District and the Asian American Health Coalition of Greater Houston
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: contractual employment with the Harris County Hospital District