Faculty Showcase Culturally tailored diabetes self-management nursing interventions for Mexican-Americans   Study Aims to Improve Outcomes in Mexican-Americans with Diabetes Deborah Vincent PhD, RN, FAANP dvincent@nursing.arizona.edu	Dr. Deborah Vincent with her R.A., Lourdes Barrera

	The goal of my program of research is to design cost-effective alternative health care delivery models. Currently, I am focusing on developing and testing a culturally modified diabetes self-management intervention for Mexican-Americans. Diabetes has reached epidemic proportions in the United States . Mexican-Americans are among those hit hardest by diabetes and its complications. Lifestyle change is a crucial but challenging component of diabetes self-management. By tailoring a diabetes self-management program to be culturally sensitive we hope to create workable practices for Mexican-Americans
	The risk of developing type 2 diabetes for Mexican-Americans, the largest Hispanic sub-group is, nearly three times that of non-Hispanics and the mortality rate is twice that of non-Hispanics. Both prevalence and complication risk appear to be multifactorial and include genetics, lifestyle, cultural beliefs, and access to care. Mexican-Americans seem to have difficulty achieving adequate glucose control and, as a result, have often been labeled as non-compliant. Translating self-management programs into workable processes for Mexican-Americans populations is challenging, primarily because so much of self-management depends on patients changing their cultural patterns of eating and activity.   We have just completed a feasibility study and are submitting a grant application for a larger pilot study. Preliminary findings suggest that the intervention had a positive clinical and statistical affect on diabetes knowledge, weight, and body mass index (BMI). Improvements were also noted in self-efficacy scores, and measures of glycemic control (blood glucose and HbA 1c) but these did not reach significance. The control group had an increase in weight, BMI, and HbA 1c but these were not statistically significant. Based on these results, a larger study is planned and a proposal has been submitted to NIH.
	Students interested in studying diabetes self-management, designing alternative health delivery models to improve outcomes are encouraged to contact Dr. Vincent. Bilingual/ bicultural students are encouraged to participate in the above research activities. dvincent@nursing.arizona.edu