A Brief Educational Intervention to Improve Culturally Appropriate Care in Hispanic Adults with Type 2 Diabetes Living in Texas

Abstract

The purpose of this project was to utilize an online asynchronous educational webinar to increase the Texas Nurse Practitioners Association’s providers’ knowledge of teaching strategies and culturally appropriate education for Hispanic patients with type 2 diabetes. The incidence of type 2 diabetes in the Hispanic population in Texas is increasing with the Hispanic population being diagnosed disproportionately more. This is a cause for concern across the state of Texas due to its significant Hispanic population. Type 2 diabetes; if poorly managed, can have negative outcomes for the patient’s quality of life as well as a financial impact on the economy. Unsuccessfully managed glucose levels may result in debilitating outcomes, such as renal failure, stroke, loss of limbs, blindness, nerve damage, and possibly early death. The sample included 40 nurse practitioners’ who were members of the Texas Nurse Practitioner Association. This project included a pre-test and a post-test to evaluate the effectiveness and satisfaction of the webinar. This project ran for three weeks, during which time one reminder e-mail was distributed. Data was then compiled and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results of the comparison showed that the presentation helped nurse practitioners by providing new cultural knowledge. There were barriers in the questionnaires because the pre-test and post-test were not linked, so there was no way to determine the knowledge learned by each individual participant. There were also technical problems regarding sound quality and speed of presentation. This study could serve as a foundation for further research on improving cultural education for providers who educate Hispanics with type 2 diabetes in Texas. Aggregate data and recommendations were given to the Texas Nurse Practitioner Association.