Developing culture-based health education for indigenous and immigrant populations

Background: Health Education has traditionally used social cognitive behavioral change strategies to modify behaviors. Culture Based Education (CBE) is a method that goes beyond using psychology to change behaviors rather making the material culturally relevant to the students or patients. This approach is a well established educational framework that has been shown effective with indigenous and other populations. Diabetes 101, a 4-hour seminar taught to Community Health Workers utilized the culture based education framework by integrating cultural components into the curriculum and teaching strategies. Methods: Culture Based Education has five basic elements (adapted from Kanaiaupuni, 2007): 1) language – recognizing and using native or heritage language, 2) family and community – actively involving the community in the development of curriculum, 3) context – structuring the pedagogy in culturally-appropriate ways , 4) content – culturally grounded content and 5) data and accountability The theoretical model that is utilized in Diabetes 101 has culture based education feeding into both socio-emotional development and health outcomes, illustrating the positive impact that CBE has on both. Results: The results of the pre- and post-diabetes knowledge test students demonstrated a statistically significant gain in diabetes knowledge. Overall there was a statistically significant improvement in mean test score of 1.92 (P<0.0001), a 20.97% increase Conclusion: By incorporating culturally relevant methodologies of teaching the Diabetes 101 curriculum provided students the knowledge and tools needed to deliver diabetes education to their communities.