Working with Communities: Strategies for Prevention and Management of Type 2 Diabetes

This paper discusses the importance of involving the community and all relevant individuals in the prevention and management of type 2 diabetes and its associated complications. It brings to light the various causes of type 2 diabetes and the signs and symptoms to enable people to identify the disease and seek early intervention. It also discusses the importance of carrying out educational programs and encouraging behavior changes among the people in order to better deal with the illness.

Running Head: WORKING WITH COMMUNITIES 1
WORKING WITH COMMUNITIES
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

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Part 1
Introduction
Type 2 diabetes is a chronic condition that affects the manner in which one’s body metabolizes
glucose (sugar), the source of energy. With this condition, the body either does not produce
enough insulin to sustain a normal level of glucose or resists the effects of the hormone (insulin).
This paper discusses the different ways in which the community can be involved in prevention
and management of type 2 diabetes.This is aided by an analysis of the different levels of
community-based interaction in health programs. Community interaction is the process by which
individuals upsurge their assets and traits to achieve more power in their lives and bring about
political and social change (Laverack, 2014). The paper also covers the domains for capacity
building and empowerment of a community. Lastly, it discusses some approaches of health
promotion practice that can be used to motivate and educate the people about type 2 diabetes.
Levels of community Interaction
The levels of community based interaction include:
 community readiness
 Community participation
 Community engagement
 Community organization
 Community development
 Community capacity
 Community action
 Community empowerment.

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The ladder does not represent a chronological progression of activities. It is meant to create
clarity on the interaction of all the concepts (Laverack, 2014).
Strategies to Engage the Community
Community readiness: consulting with the community members is an effectual way of
involving the community in addressing type 2 diabetes. Consultations are carried out to find out
the position of the people regarding the disease and to inform future decision making. The
opinions and views of the people are important in finding out about essential areas such as their
lifestyles, health care facilities available to them and health-related behaviors. This kind of
information can be obtained through questionnaires, interviews, postal and internet-based
surveys directed to the general population. Meetings, polls and public hearings can also be
incorporated. The data collected should then be collated and analyzed so that the feedbacks are
clear and understandable. This helps in identifying areas that need improvement as well as the
preparedness of the community to be engaged in interventions to manage the disease (Harris et
al., 2015).
Community Engagement: this builds collaboration among people so that they can address their
common needs by sharing experiences and ideas. In practice, it is not possible for all members of
the community to be involved in participation thus only the representatives of the majority are
included in workshops and meetings. Community engagement leads to formation of equal
partnerships between the community members and the outside agency (Laverack, 2014). The
people are not just passive participants but are more action-oriented in identifying and addressing
their health issues. Active involvement of the people in managing type 2 diabetes is essential as
this requires change in individual lifestyles (Sidaway, 2014).

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Community capacity: this feature provides the basis of building the assets and the attributes of
the community towards solving the problem. It is a strategy which can be employed to build
more capable communities. In the case of type 2 diabetes, this can be achieved by continuously
creating awareness about the disease, its causes, symptoms and its health dangers. Cognition
would encourage every individual involved to put some effort towards the management of the
disease.A combination of a person’s genetic makeup and environmental factors are known to
cause type 2 diabetes.In addition to excess weight and lack of physical activity, fat distribution in
the body, age and prediabetes are also contribute to type 2 diabetes.
Symptoms and signs of type 2 diabetes develop gradually and one can have this condition for
years and not even realize it. Some of these symptoms include fatigue, weight loss, increased
hunger, thirst and urination, slow-healing sores and darkening of skin in some regions
(Ramachandran, 2014). Ensuring that people in the community are provided with this kind of
info helps in the prevention, early identification and intervention that limits advancement of the
disease and the impacts of the associated complications (Pratley, 2013). This material can be
spread via the internet, leaflets, events and posters.The newspaper, radio and television programs
can also be employed to pass on the information. For more effectiveness, special publications
can be made targeting a specified group in the population, for instance children
(Mustapha&O’Loughlin, 2012).
Part 2
Community Empowering and Ownership

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Learning Opportunities and Skills Development
Continuous learning chances should be provided to equip the people with the know-how of what
to do to prevent furtherance of the illness or onset of its related complications. This is also done
with the aim building their capability in relation to disease management (Liberato et al., 2011).
Resource Mobilization
This entails movement of the required resources into regions of the community that need them
the most. Knowledge would not be useful unless the people had the means necessary for its
application. In this case, the resources required would include financial support to enhance
people’s ability to afford a balanced diet and regular medical checkups for early determination of
type 2 diabetes (Tung & Peek, 2015). Medical facilities should also be available in the hospitals
to ensure that all the aspects of type 2 diabetes are covered. For instance, amenities for testing for
the presence of the disease and the medication required to manage the disease for example
insulin tablets.
Partnerships and networking

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This domain emphasizes on creation of equal relationships across and within the communities. It
indicates that all parties involved in the prevention and management of type 2 diabetes are
equally important in the course.An individualis more inspired to contribute if he or she feels that
their efforts are valued as much as the inputs of every other person (Harris et al., 2015).
Leadership
The role of leadership in this situation is to ensure that the partakers are constantly motivated to
participate in the management and control of the disease. The leaders can encourage participation
through recognition of the most active participants whether they are the doctors, the patients or
community members who are vigorouslyinvolved in management and control of type 2 diabetes.
Financial incentives can also be a motivating factor whereby the leaders ensure that the funds
needed in the hospitals and clinical institutions offering type 2 diabetes medication and treatment
are readily available. Leaders should also make sure that the facilities, amenities, carers and
other health service providers are available for the patients. This inspires the people and
emboldens them to be more actively involved as it depicts the fact that their frontrunners are
taking their responsibilities seriously. The leaders should also be sure to offer conflict
management systems to augment peace and harmony.
Some of the community members should be given leadership roles. This takes care of any
concerns of the community about whether the program or policy has their best interests at
heart(Kelley, 2013). Furthermore, community leaders have a better understanding of the people,
their diabetic conditions and what they are capable of doing to manage the disease. This makes
the management process more efficient and definitely more effective.
Participatory Decision making

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This domain is mainly assimilated in the coming up with the most effective strategies, programs,
policies and procedures to manage the disease and reduce the risk of its inception. It is a
complementary facet to leadership as it enables the heads to involve the community members in
developing the most effectual and efficient strategy (Tol et al., 2015). The leaders are able to
work with a range of community viewpoints and create a program that is acceptable and in which
the people have a sense of ownership and answerability (Parchman et al., 2010).
Part 3
Health Belief Model (HBM)
HBM proposes that people’s beliefs about their health problems, their self-efficacy as well as
their perceived benefits and barriers to action determine their level of participation in health
promotion programs (Green & Murphy, 2014). It is a widely used theory in health behavior
research. Its theoretical constructs entail cues of action, modifying variables, perceived severity,
susceptibility, barriers and benefits as well as self-efficacy (individual’s belief of their intrinsic
ability to attain targets). This approach is meant to bolster individuals in the community to
embrace healthier behaviors.
Advantages of HBM
 It is useful in the development of effectual interventions to change health-related
behavior
 It helps people to understand how their actions affect their health and may enhance the
perceived seriousness of a health condition

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 Health interventions based on this model may increase self-efficacy or deliver clues of
action that motivate people to adopt healthier lifestyles which have a positive effect on
the incidence and prevalence of type 2 diabetes.
Limitations
The model only relies on people’s beliefs and attitudes to explain health-related behaviors, that
is, it does not account for other factors, for instance, environmental factors.
In addition, the health belief model does not put into consideration the impacts of emotions on
health-related behaviors. Fear, for example, is a principal factor in predicting one’s actions
relative to their health (Glanz, Rimer&Viswanath, 2008).
The effects of changes in behavior can only be identified after a long period of time. In addition,
the body does not respond immediately to changes in behavior which means that the clients’
health will continue to deteriorate for a while even after adopting a healthy lifestyle.
Educational Approach
This is a health promotion strategy aimed at providing knowledge and information to develop the
essential skills in disease prevention, management and control. The success of this method relies
wholly on the ability of the individuals to make informed decisions about their health based on
the facts acquired. These particulars can be passed down to people through the media and
interpersonal channels that is, passing the knowledge on from one person to another.
Advantages
o Educational approach is helpful in changing of people’s attitudes towards their health as
well as health care provision practices (Polikandrioti, 2010).

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o This approach endorses interactions among people and social support and inclusion
which is vital to one’s physiologigical and physiological health (Begen & Turner-Cobb,
2015).
o This strategy is also very effective as it reaches more people through the interpersonal
channels
Weaknesses
This stratagem assumes that sharing knowledge and skills may bring about changes in attitudes
which leads to change in behavior. This may not be always the case as the people might acquire
the information and choose not to use it.
Additionally, it ignores other factors which affects people’s health and increases the risk of type
2 diabetes such as one’s genetic makeup, economic, social and environmental factors. For
instance, individuals from a poor background may not afford a balanced diet every single day
even though they may have the knowledge of its importance.
Stages of Change Model
This model identifies an individual’s readiness to change their behavior. It pronounces the stages
tone passes through as they try to modify their behavior, namely; pre-contemplation,
contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance and termination. This progresses from intentions
of taking action to acting on changing the behavior and maintaining the actions. The last stage
indicates no wish to return to the previous negative behaviors. This model is advantageous in that
it highlights the fact that change in behavior is a process thus encouraging people to keep on
even when the it is difficult. The model however assumes that mere knowledge of the steps taken

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to change one’s behavior is adequate incentive for people to desire acquiring positive lifetyles
(Moeini et al., 2010).
Conclusion
In summary, this paper portrays the importance of involving the community and all relevant
individuals in the prevention and management of type 2 diabetes and its associated
complications. The text puts emphasis on the significance of engaging the community members
in decision making and leadership so that they feel a sense of responsibility in issues concerning
the disease. It brings to light the various causes of type 2 diabetes and the signs and symptoms to
enable people to identify the disease and seek early intervention. It also discusses the importance
of carrying out educational programs and encouraging behavior changes among the people in
order to better deal with the illness.

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