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Aboriginal women share their stories in an outreach diabetes education program

Compared to other Canadians, Aboriginal people suffer disproportionately from Type 2 diabetes and its complications. In an attempt to fill gaps in services for Aboriginal people to support better management of diabetes and to prevent further complications, the West Side Community Clinic launched a monthly outreach diabetes education program using an informal hands-on approach to learning about meal planning and other forms of diabetes management. The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine the impact that the program has had on the participants' health and well-being through the stories they shared in a group or individual interview. Out of the core group of 30 women, most of them Aboriginal, eleven participated in the group interview and five women participated in individual interviews.<p>Findings reveal that the program's impact on participants' health and well-being is embedded within the context of their lives. Diabetes is managed within multiple life realities in an individual, a familial and a community context. The women report learning management skills and sharing support among participants and staff of Diabetes Morning; and altered health status such as regulated blood glucose levels and weight loss. Opportunities for change include more programming like Diabetes Morning, more often, more information, access to low-cost diabetes-friendly foods, communication with health care practitioners, and integrating knowledge on a day-to-day basis. Domains for outcome indicators and contextual indicators are suggested for the program.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:SSU.etd-02182007-113214
Date18 February 2007
CreatorsDressler, Mary Patricia
ContributorsReeder, Bruce, Feather, Joan
PublisherUniversity of Saskatchewan
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
Sourcehttp://library.usask.ca/theses/available/etd-02182007-113214/
Rightsunrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Saskatchewan or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report.

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