Developing a culturally-tailored diabetes prevention intervention in the South Asian and Korean communities of New York City

Background: Studies demonstrate that Asian Americans have high rates of impaired glucose metabolism (32.4%) compared to White non-Hispanics (21.2%), indicating pre-diabetes. Despite these disparities, there have been few community-based, ethnically and culturally tailored diabetes prevention interventions for Asian American communities. Methods: In a study to develop, implement, and test a community health worker (CHW) program to prevent diabetes in New York City (NYC) South Asian and Korean communities, a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach was used to ensure that target communities were actively and equally engaged in the development of this culturally-tailored program. We describe the multiple steps taken to elicit and incorporate community perspective into culturally-tailored educational curricula. Results: First, a coalition comprised of academic and community partners designed a formative study consisting of surveys, clinical screenings, and focus groups. The study was implemented in NYC South Asian and Korean communities to understand the general health needs, access to services, life-style behaviors, and knowledge and perceptions related to diabetes prevention. Second, a literature review was conducted to identify existing interventions to promote diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention in community-based and healthcare settings, and protocols and materials from these interventions were catalogued and reviewed by the coalition. Finally, a template protocol and curricula were created and translated with input from community partners, and evaluated by community members during another round of focus groups. Conclusion: The resulting intervention protocol and curricula will be pilot-tested for use in NYC South Asian and Korean communities.