"Mamas Contentas, Bebes Saludables"/"Happy Mothers, Healthy Babies"A Gestational Diabetes Curriculum designed for Promotoras

In response to the frequency and upward trends of Gestational Diabetes (GD) in Santa Cruz County, a Community Health Center and a local Hospital providing service in the US Mexico border region collaborated to develop a training curriculum in English and Spanish to capacitate Promotoras to teach pregnant women with gestational diabetes to understand and effectively manage their perinatal condition.

The session curriculum includes three elements of the Chronic Care Model: Self Management Support; Delivery System Design; and Community, and addresses the needs and gaps identified through Promotoras experience delivering group education to diabetics and gestational diabetics. The curriculum advocates Self Management Support by educating Promotoras to empower pregnant women with diabetes to understand their disease, assess their status, set goals and problem solve based on successes and challenges. The curriculum enhances Delivery System Design by increasing the capacity of Promotoras, a culturally-competent and highly cost effective component of the medical team, to utilize evidence-based care to assist gestational diabetics with self management to improve compliance. Finally, the Community element of the chronic care model is incorporated by interventions provided in the home or via group instruction in an easily accessible location. The GD curriculum has been tested in a pilot training. Based on evaluation results and participant feedback the curriculum has been finalized both English and Spanish. The gestational diabetes curriculum will be available to other communities in mid 2009.