Yale University, School of Nursing, New Haven, CT (Dr Nam)
University of Maryland, College of Agriculture & Natural Resources, College Park, MD (Dr Song)
Diabetes Educ. 2013 Mar-Apr;39(2):213-21. doi: 10.1177/0145721713475846. Epub 2013 Feb 20.
To examine challenges in diabetes self-management among Korean Americans to guide clinicians in providing culturally appropriate and population-targeted diabetes care.
Five focus groups with 23 Korean Americans with type 2 diabetes, 30 to 75 years of age, were conducted. Open-ended questions were presented focusing on previous experiences in living with diabetes; digital recordings were transcribed verbatim; transcripts were coded and themes were identified.
Most participants were reluctant to disclose diabetes because of social stigma and said that they did not know much about diabetes and its complications. Diabetes self-management is not always a top priority for Korean Americans over other family obligations or financial stability in their busy immigration lives. Many Korean Americans experience conflicts with family members in managing diabetes or would not request support from family members for their diabetes care. Traditional women's roles and demanding immigration life seem to leave women particularly vulnerable to a lack of self-care. Lack of English proficiency limits access to mainstream health care.
Providing diabetes education at the community level is important to raise public awareness of diabetes and to eliminate social stigma. To facilitate family support for individuals with type 2 diabetes, it is appropriate to include the entire family in diabetes educational programs and to promote individual family members' health in the context of maintaining their role within the family. Future efforts should be made with full implementation of language services in various clinical encounters and diabetes education.
探讨美籍韩裔人群在糖尿病自我管理方面面临的挑战，为临床医生提供文化适宜且针对特定人群的糖尿病护理提供指导。
对 23 名年龄在 30 至 75 岁的 2 型糖尿病美籍韩裔患者进行了 5 次焦点小组访谈。访谈集中在患者既往的糖尿病生活体验，采用开放性问题，对访谈进行数字录音并逐字转录，对转录内容进行编码，识别主题。
大多数参与者因社会耻辱感而不愿透露自己的糖尿病病情，并且表示他们对糖尿病及其并发症了解甚少。在美籍韩裔患者繁忙的移民生活中，糖尿病自我管理并不总是优先于其他家庭义务或经济稳定。许多美籍韩裔患者在管理糖尿病方面与家庭成员存在冲突，或者不会向家庭成员寻求糖尿病护理方面的支持。传统的女性角色和高要求的移民生活似乎使女性特别容易忽视自我护理。英语水平有限限制了他们获得主流医疗保健的机会。
在社区层面提供糖尿病教育对于提高公众对糖尿病的认识和消除社会耻辱感非常重要。为了促进家庭对 2 型糖尿病患者的支持，在糖尿病教育计划中应将整个家庭纳入其中，并在维持家庭角色的背景下促进个体家庭成员的健康。未来应在各种临床诊疗中充分实施语言服务，并加强糖尿病教育。
