Mary Hindelang

Honoring our elders: hearing their stories, respecting their ways.

www.homehealthcarenurseonline.com Culturally Relevant Diabetes Patient Education in Home Care During the past 2 years I have had the honor of working with the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community in northern Michigan on a project to reduce the devastating effects of diabetes in their community at all age levels. Throughout this interesting project I have learned many things from the people, especially the importance of listening and respect while teaching. Culturally relevant and developmentally appropriate approaches are essential in all educational interventions and are more effective in promoting a positive outcome in health behavior. In the home care population we serve, age, ethnicity, and family history are predictors of diabetes risk, as are life-style factors such as smoking, weight, physical activity, and compliance with medications. Most of the patients we see in home care are within the highrisk categories for diabetes or prediabetes. Impaired glucose tolerance and impaired fasting glucose are an intermediate stage in the development of diabetes mellitus. From 10% to 15% of adults in the United • Overall, the risk for death among people with diabetes is about twice that of people without diabetes of similar age. • 1.5 million new cases of diabetes were diagnosed in people 20 years or older in 2005. • Of the more than 18 million people who have diabetes in the United States, 90% to 95% have type 2 diabetes. • Cardiovascular disease is the chief cause of death among patients with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes