Pilot of a Diabetes Primary Prevention Program in a Hard-to-Reach, Low-Income, Immigrant Hispanic Population

• Published in: Journal of immigrant and minority health 2011-10, Vol.13 (5), p.906-913
• Main Authors: Millard, Ann V., Graham, Margaret A., Wang, Xiaohui, Mier, Nelda, Sánchez, Esmeralda R., Flores, Isidore, Elizondo-Fournier, Marta
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adaptation; Administrator Education; Adult; Anthropology; Behavioral Science Research; Behavioral Sciences; Body Composition; Body mass index; Body Weight; Community Involvement; Community Relations; Comparative Law; Computer Literacy; Counties; Diabetes; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - ethnology; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - prevention & control; Disease prevention; Emigrants and Immigrants; Empowerment; Ethnic Groups; Exercise; Female; Formative Evaluation; Health behavior; Health education; Hispanic Americans; Hispanic people; Humans; Immigrants; Income; International & Foreign Law; Intervention; Interviews as Topic; Low income groups; Low income people; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mexican Americans; Mexico - ethnology; Middle Aged; Minority & ethnic groups; Noncitizens; Nutrition; Nutrition Instruction; Original Paper; Physical Activities; Pilot Projects; Population; Poverty - ethnology; Prevention; Prevention programs; Preventive programmes; Primary Prevention; Private International Law; Public Health; Resistance (Psychology); Rural areas; Scientific Concepts; Social networks; Sociology; Studies; Type 2 diabetes mellitus; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1557-1912; 1557-1920
• DOI: 10.1007/s10903-010-9412-y

An immigrant Hispanic population in the Texas-Mexico border region urgently requested assistance with diabetes. The project team implemented an exploratory pilot intervention to prevent type 2 diabetes in the general population through enhanced nutrition and physical activity. Social networks in low-income rural areas ( colonias ) participated in an adaptation of the Diabetes Empowerment Education Program. The program had a pre-post-test design with a comparison group. The intervention had a small but significant effect in lowering body mass index, the biological outcome variable. The process evaluation shows that the participants valued the pilot project and found it culturally and economically appropriate. This program was the first primary prevention program in diabetes to address a general population successfully. The study shows that low-income, rural Mexican American families will take ownership of a program that is participatory and tailored to their culture and economic situation.