Preventing Diabetes Among Native Americans: A Community Health Intervention Program

This article discusses the need for a community health intervention program to prevent diabetes among Native Americans due to poverty and unemployment. The program would target physical activity, diet, and smoking as well as alcohol cessation. The intervention program would address the language and cultural characteristics of the Natives Americans by engaging the members in their local languages through experts and educating and counseling them on the benefits of balanced diets, physical activity, cessation of alcohol and smoking, and eversion of fatty foods.

Running head: COMMUNITY HEALTH 1
Community Health
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliations

COMMUNITY HEALTH 2
Community Health
Many ethnic or minority groups suffer from different health issues. As a community
health director of a local health department, I found it essential to create an intervention program
which would aid in preventing one of the critical health issues impacting the minority groups.
Diabetes is a significant health issue affecting the Native Americans. It is a community health
issue because it leads to disability, poor health, loss of life, and negative impacts on the
economy. The Native Americans are among the minority ethnic groups engulfed with diabetes
due to poor health which manifests itself as a result of unemployment and poverty (James, 2015).
It is important to note that poverty and unemployment lead to deterioration of health due to lack
of nutritious or balanced diet, access to primary care, stress, and physical inactivity. Research
conducted by the American Diabetes Association show that the Natives American especially the
Alaska Natives have the greatest rate of diabetes in comparison to any other group in America
(Pettitt et al., 2014). The American Diabetes Association states that this is as a result of limited
access to healthy foods and poverty. The Natives Americans have been consuming cheap fatty
foods after they lost a more substantial proportion of their land.
I believe Lifestyle intervention program is most appropriate for overcoming diabetes
among the Native Americans. The intervention program would target physical activity, diet, and
smoking as well as alcohol cessation (Aminov et al., 2016). Behavioral intervention would as
well form a unique part of the program. Cultural sensitivity of lifestyles would enhance as well
as promote the effectiveness and appropriateness of the intervention program. The intervention
would address the language and cultural characteristics of the Natives Americans by engaging
the members in their local languages through experts and educating and counseling them on the
benefits of balanced diets, physical activity, cessation of alcohol and smoking, and eversion of

COMMUNITY HEALTH 3
fatty foods. The intervention program would not extensively go against the community’s culture
but advice the members on what ought to be avoided to eradicate or prevent diabetes.
My plan for delivering appropriate care and health education encompasses forming a
team of clinical experts who would work at the local hospitals to care for the patients. The team
would also involve counselors who will offer advisory services to the individuals who have
diabetes. Notably, the advises would encompass the diets the patients should eat, encourage them
to take part in physical activity, and discourage them from consuming fatty foods, processed
foods, alcohol, and cigarettes.
Notably, the objectives of the program would include educating people on the risk factors
of diabetes, offer support, guidance, and coaching to people having diabetes, and help people
understand how to manage diabetes (Hsu et al., 2015). Other objectives would involve educating
individuals on the importance of healthy eating, physical activity, healthy coping, blood sugar
monitoring, cessation of alcohol and smoking, and taking medications. On a similar note, the
program intervention would aim at assessing the conditions the Native Americans live in and
draw recommendations which can aid in improving their health and prevent or eradicate
diabetes.

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References
Aminov, Z., Haase, R., Rej, R., Schymura, M. J., Santiago-Rivera, A., Morse, G., ... &
Akwesasne Task Force on the Environment. (2016). Diabetes prevalence in relation to
serum concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) Congener groups and three
chlorinated pesticides in a native american population. Environmental health
perspectives, 124(9), 1376.
Hsu, W. C., Araneta, M. R. G., Kanaya, A. M., Chiang, J. L., & Fujimoto, W. (2015). BMI cut
points to identify at-risk Asian Americans for type 2 diabetes screening. Diabetes
care, 38(1), 150-158.
James, K. (2015). Science and Native American Communities. In Science, Religion and
Society (pp. 68-80). Routledge.
Pettitt, D. J., Talton, J., Dabelea, D., Divers, J., Imperatore, G., Lawrence, J. M., ... & Saydah, S.
H. (2014). Prevalence of diabetes in US youth in 2009: the SEARCH for diabetes in
youth study. Diabetes care, 37(2), 402-408.