Date of Award

2022

Document Type

Project

College/School

College of Nursing

Degree Name

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

Project Mentor

Danuta M Wojnar

Abstract

Background and Purpose: Type II Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) is a serious chronic disease that requires knowledge, daily self-management, and lifestyle modifications. T2DM is a widespread disease in Western world, however, it affects racial minority immigrant populations, including Somalis at disproportionally higher rates than the general population. This quality improvement project was developed and piloted to discern whether culturally appropriate small group-based education program for Somali patients with T2DM may improve self-management skills to alleviate long-term complications.

Methods: This project used descriptive statistics to compare participants’ knowledge and T2DM self-management behavior pre and post intervention. Subsequent to Seattle University IRB approval, participants were recruited from HealthPoint Midway clinics in King County, WA. Informed consent was obtained verbally on enrollment and participants were asked to complete demographic surveys and pre-intervention questionnaires at that time. The T2DM intervention topics in the study included general knowledge of T2DM, healthy eating, physical activity, stress management, as well as glucose monitoring and medication regiment. A total of 5 educational sessions, each lasting approximately 1.5 hours were delivered via zoom. Education was provided in the Somali language which the investigator and participants spoke at home.

Results: Tow men and four women (N=6), between ages of 42-55 years old, diagnosed with T2DM participated in the project. All of the participants were of Somali origin. Participants’ average pre-intervention A1c level was M=10.7 and the average post-intervention A1c level was M=9.1 (Appendix A, Table 3). There was also a significant improvement in the participants’ knowledge of T2DM and improvement in confidence related to self-care (Appendix B, Table 4).

Conclusions: This project, carried out with a small sample of Somali immigrants with T2DM demonstrated that culturally appropriate health interventions delivered in the patients’ first language and carried out in a small group setting may be an effective health promotion and disease management strategy for this population, contributing to alleviating health disparities long term.

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