Focus groups show need for diabetes awareness education among African Americans

摘要

The UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Health Promotion Workgroup conducted 7 focus groups with African-American adults in California, USA (2 in Los Angeles and one each in San Bernardino, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Stanislaus), to examine the beliefs and perceptions about diabetes. 60 African-American adults (49 women and 11 men; aged 20-50 years) participated in the study. None of the participants had been diagnosed with diabetes and 24 (40%) had at least one relative or family member with diabetes. Results revealed that the perceived causes of diabetes were poor diet, lack of exercise, stress, heredity and being overweight. Difficulty in changing poor eating habits was cited by the participants to be attributed to family pressure (particularly at celebrations), lack of social support in the workplace, age, lack of stores offering a variety of healthy foods, too much food and lack of money to go to a gym. Obstacles to early screening and preventive health care for diabetes included lack of cultural sensitivity and respect among health providers, distrust and dissatisfaction with the health care system, lack of free screenings, fear, time, inconvenience and lack of awareness. The participants preferred community-basedorganizations, health providers, schools and churches as channels to disseminate information about the causes, prevention, symptoms, disease progression, control and management of, as well as new research on diabetes. Many participants felt they had notreceived enough information about diabetes, thus they emphasized the need for culturally-sensitive, community-based approaches to health promotion.