In New Mexico, diabetes is a major health problem for American Indian communities. Some tribes have prevalence rates as high as 30% in adults ages 35 and older, and the mortality rates due to diabetes have been rising dramatically over recent years.
The specific aim of this project is to develop a family-centered diabetes education intervention, which combines the most informative research design with the greatest acceptability to participation by the Santa Clara Health Center staff (Indian Health Service), Santa Clara Health Board members (representatives appointed by the tribal governor from each of the five Tewa speaking pueblos served by the Santa Clara Health Center), and persons with diabetes. The planning grant will be used to: 1) assess acceptability to individuals and community leaders of a family-centered diabetes education intervention, 2) obtain background clinical information to guide selection of a research design with adequate statistical power, and selection of appropriate control participants/groups, 3) assess research design acceptability to individuals and community leaders, 4) determine specific outcome measures, including adaptation of quality of life measures, which would be used to assess success of the intervention at the level of the index participant, family members, and health center including cost effectiveness, and 5) ensure education methods/materials are culturally relevant and acceptable. Focus group and interview methods will be utilized to assure tribal participation in this process. This planning grant would be the basis of a subsequent project to test the hypothesis that a family-centered diabetes education intervention would achieve better blood glucose control, self-care practices, and that the intervention would impact positively on the health of family members of the index participant.
