224616 Diabetes and Healthy Eyes Toolkit: Helping Community Health Workers Educate Hispanics/Latinos About Diabetic Eye Disease

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Marcela Aguilar, MHS , ICF Macro, Rockville, MD
Leslie Quiroz, MA , ICF Macro, Rockville, MD
Neyal J. Ammary-Risch, MPH, MCHES , National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD
  
The Diabetes and Healthy Eyes Toolkit was developed by the National Eye Health Education Program (NEHEP) in conjunction with the Midwest Latino Health Research, Training, and Policy Center. The Toolkit, available in English and Spanish, provides community health workers with detailed guidance and instructional tools for educating people with diabetes about related eye disease complications. The Toolkit features a flipchart with colorful graphics for use in small group settings, a comprehensive module that provides background information and activities on diabetic eye disease that assists presenters in using the flipchart, and a full-color photonovella-style booklet about the importance of proper eye care for distribution to participants. In 2008, community health workers pilot-tested the Toolkit in Arizona, California, New Mexico, New York, and Texas. Pilot-test results showed that the Toolkit helped meet a need in Hispanic/Latino communities for eye health information for people with diabetes. Using community health workers' feedback, NEHEP made content and layout changes to improve usability and reader-friendliness. By using the Toolkit and other NEHEP resources, community health workers can play a crucial role in educating people with diabetes about maintaining healthy vision, getting a dilated eye exam at least once a year, and seeking appropriate follow-up care for eye diseases in order to prevent vision loss and blindness. The information in the Diabetes and Healthy Eyes Toolkit can be incorporated into existing diabetes education programs or used to start new ones.

Learning Areas:
Chronic disease management and prevention
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Public health or related education

Learning Objectives:
Discuss the prevalence of diabetes in the Hispanic/Latino community. Explain the implications of diabetic eye disease in this population. List three components of a new toolkit available to community health workers to educate people with diabetes in the Hispanic/Latino community. Describe three educational resources available from the National Eye Health Education Program (NEHEP) that promote eye health among Hispanic/Latino communities.

Keywords: Community Health Promoters, Diabetes

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I was the program manager who oversaw production of the Toolkit.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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