Method of Developing a Culturally Tailored Diabetes Intervention for American Indians

American Indians have the highest prevalence of type 2 diabetes compared with any other racial or ethnic group.

Developing a culturally tailored diabetes prevention and management intervention is one way to reduce diabetes-related health disparities among American Indian populations. The purpose of this article is to describe our approach for developing a diabetes prevention and management intervention study using Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory as the framework.

To ensure the intervention study was culturally meaningful and relevant we used community-based participatory principles by partnering with a team of nurse researchers, tribal diabetes educators, tribal leaders, and tribal community members who were involved in all aspects of the study process. We conducted seven focus groups predominantly in rural American Indian communities in Oklahoma. Using focus group findings, the team collaboratively designed and developed a multi-generational diabetes prevention and management intervention study. The intervention group sessions will focus on ways to prevent and manage diabetes while the control group sessions will focus on general health education topics that have been identified by the team as important and relevant.

Family interventions that involve multiple generations and provide emotional and behavioral support to those with type 2 diabetes and family members at risk may provide our best chance at improving diabetes-related outcomes and reducing health disparities in this critical population.