Diabetes Queensland
Understanding or adapting diabetes advice from health professionals to suit diverse lifestyles or cultures can be challenging and often results in it not being followed.
Diabetes Queensland has recently partnered with Brisbane South PHN to identify culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities to help address this challenge.
For the past year, Diabetes Queensland has been working with local Maori and Pacific Islander, and Arabic-speaking communities to make the DESMOND program (an interactive self-management education course for people living with type 2 diabetes) more culturally appropriate.
DESMOND (Diabetes Education and Self-Management for the Ongoing and Newly Diagnosed) is a one-day program to help people learn about healthy food choices, physical activity, medication and other proactive steps they can take for general well-being after being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
“These communities experience higher rates of avoidable diabetes-related hospitalisations and preventable complications than other Queenslanders,” said Diabetes Queensland Accredited Practising Dietitian and Credentialled Diabetes Educator, Michelle Tong.
“The strong desire and motivation from these communities to see positive change prompted us to find out whether the DESMOND program would be suitable and effective for these CALD groups.”
Brisbane South PHN CEO, Mike Bosel, said: “This partnership is important as it’s responding to the need identified by primary care providers and the community.
“A culturally adapted DESMOND program for people with newly diagnosed diabetes supports quality care and better health outcomes.”
To inform this work, two community ‘expert reference groups’ were formed, including people living with diabetes, their families, health professionals and other interested community members.
Participants advised on how to adapt DESMOND to incorporate culturally appropriate foods, religious practices and beliefs, and family structures to target the program according to cultural needs. From this feedback, Diabetes Queensland and the Brisbane South PHN piloted an adapted program with tailored resources for each group.
It is the first time in Australia that DESMOND has been culturally adapted to suit ethnic communities.
Manal Aqrawe, a medical doctor for more than 20 years in Iraq and member of the Arabic community’s expert reference group, said: “We can do more for our community to control this progressive and chronic condition by attending, collaborating and creating through the DESMOND program.”
“The best people to facilitate diabetes education for diverse cultural groups are people from within the community, so Diabetes Queensland has trained people from each group to become DESMOND educators,” Michelle said.
“Key feedback from consultation with the Maori and Pacific Islander community was that they wanted to build on the strengths within the community, rather than just try to fix the “problems” with external help.”
