Diabetes Pueblo Program - Application and Acceptability of Culturally Appropriate Latino Education for Insulin Therapy

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a group of chronic disorders typified by raised blood glucose levels. An estimated 30 million people in the United States (US) (9.4% of the population) have diabetes. Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is defined by a rapid onset, often in childhood, and insulin dependence; while type 2 diabetes (T2D) is considered to have a slow onset and insulin insensitivity. Insulin is a required form of treatment for all T1D, and T2D patients who cannot achieve glycemic control through exercise and diet or other medications alone. Currently in the United States, the achieved level of glycemic control for adult Latinos with type 2 diabetes (T2D) is sub-optimal compared to the non-Latino Caucasian population. Among Latinos with T2D, there are unique barriers to starting and optimizing therapies, including insulin. Barriers include socioeconomic and cultural factors, as well as inadequate encouragement from health care providers. There are also challenges associated with access to timely and appropriate diabetes education. Some of these barriers may improve by using trained community health workers from the Latino community, as there is evidence that they are effective in supporting adherence and persistence with therapies (including insulin) and in encouraging lifestyle changes for T2D patients within their own communities.

The 2017 National Standards of Care for Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support (DSME/S) outline quality, evidenced based guidelines for DSME/S programs and guide those who will be providing these services. Benefits of DSME/S programs include improved clinical outcomes such as HbA1c and quality of life while reducing hospitalizations and health care costs. Hispanics are known to have a higher prevalence of diabetes, but use of DSME/S programs are vastly underutilized which means that many individuals in the Latino community with T2D are likely not receiving critical DSME/S services. It is crucial that DSME/S services be aligned with the needs of the target population in order to increase adherence and improve health outcomes. Latinos have cultural beliefs and behaviors specific to this population that should be appropriately addressed in a DSME/S program.

Diabetes Pueblo is a diabetes education program that may be a solution to help address the barriers Latinos with T2D have to diabetes care and insulin use. The Diabetes Pueblo program consists of two targeted diabetes education curriculums for the local Latino community: (a) Diabetes Fundamentals and (b) Insulin Success, a culturally appropriate program course addressing barriers to initiating and optimizing insulin and T2D therapies. Trained community health workers, also known as promotores, will deliver both programs. Ultimately, we will explore if Diabetes Pueblo Program improves knowledge of lifestyle advice for healthy eating and physical activity, increase the propensity to use insulin when clinically indicated, and improve success rates with insulin therapy by addressing common fears and negative perceptions of T2D therapies in this population.

This is a prospective pilot study. The Diabetes Pueblo program applied in this study is one program that consists of two newly created, targeted education curriculums for T2D Latino adults delivered over the course of 11 weeks by designated promotores, community health workers, to approximately 20 study participants at Sansum Diabetes Research Institute.