“It feels good to know that someone cares”: Latino patients' life experiences influence motivations for attending a diabetes health education class

Background: Health education is an important component of diabetes management.  Free monthly, Spanish-language, education classes were offered at a community-based clinic in a medically underserved area.  The goal of this study was to explore patients’ motivations for attending class and how they interacted with their personal experiences with diabetes.  

Methods: 19 Latino patients from the class (63% female, mean age 54, 58% <HS education, 37% uninsured) participated in 7 focus groups conducted in Spanish.  Discussions were audiorecorded, transcribed, and translated.  Transcripts were content coded by two coders to create a thematic coding scheme.    

Results: Four main themes emerged as motivations for attendance: (1) desire to “do better” because of family experience with death/complications from diabetes; (2) access to free information, some stated they were unable to get information elsewhere or didn’t get enough information from personal doctor; (3) a way of feeling control: many struggled with blood glucose and dietary changes because of limited financial resources to purchase healthy foods and eating traditional meals focused on meats, tortillas, and bread; (4) peer social support: group setting offered informal emotional support (“injection of energy”, “gives life meaning”), informational support (sharing stories, recipes), a space to seek non-family support because some felt uncomfortable discussing diabetes with family or live with family who don’t support lifestyle changes.  

Conclusion:  Findings contribute “thick descriptions” of how real-life experiences contribute to the perceived value of a diabetes education class.  Gaining diabetes self-management knowledge only partly explains the perceived value of classes.  Practice implications will be discussed.