Diabetes Patient Education in a Mexican-American Community

In a rural Texas-Mexico border community, subjects with diabetes were randomly selected to participate in a diabetes patient education and group-support intervention that was directed by a Mexican-American clinical nurse specialist (CNS), dietitian, and community worker. Each participant had a family member serve as a support person. The intervention involved 8 weeks of educational sessions with instruction on nutrition, blood glucose self-monitoring, exercise, and other diabetes self-management topics, and provided group support. Group discussion was facilitated using a series of Spanish-language videotapes that had been developed and previously tested in the target Mexican-American community.

The goal of this promising practice was to provide Mexican-Americans with the knowledge, skills, and support to improve general health measures and manage their diabetes.

Results suggested statistically significant improvements in diabetes knowledge, fasting blood sugar levels, and glycosylated hemoglobin levels (p=0.05).