BEST PRACTICE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR LIFESTYLE INTERVENTIONS FOR ADULT HISPANICS/LATINOS WITH TYPE 2 DIABETES MELLITUS

Abstract

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) disproportionately affects the Latino/Hispanic population. Hispanics are 1.5 times more likely to die from the disease than non-Hispanic whites and almost 13% of Hispanic adults have T2DM (Benavides-Vaello et al., 2017). This severe health disparity can be bridged with better lifestyle interventions and interventions recommended by physicians. The purpose of this thesis is to explore culturally appropriate interventions for the adult Hispanic/Latino population and to provide evidence-based recommendations for this population. After a literature review was conducted, the evidence-based recommendations that emerged include having educational materials in both English and Spanish available so patients can fully understand their medical condition and treatment plans, implementing the use of trained non-provider educators such as community health workers or peer-educators for weekly educational sessions, screening all people for diabetes at age 45 or earlier if overweight, obese, pregnant or HIV positive, using conversation maps in group sessions, monthly support groups led by trained peer-educators, and resilience training in one-on-one sessions and in group sessions.The final chapter includes a proposal for the implementation and evaluation of the best practice recommendations using the Plan-Do-Study-Act model. Overall, this population needs further help in order to lessen the disparity in T2DM incidence and poor outcomes.