Diabetes Management in San Diego’s Chamorro Community

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to assess the diabetes risk status, incidence, and morbidity within San Diego's Chamorro community as a foundation to help community leaders and health care providers create culturally customized health promotion interventions. METHODS: The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey was used to query a randomly selected, convenience sample of San Diego Chamorros (N = 228) drawn from the Chamorro Directory International. Based on individual survey responses, participants were mailed personalized health-promoting information. Subsequently, they received information that addressed the most commonly observed overall threats to the Chamorro community's health. RESULTS: A higher than average prevalence of diabetes and gestational diabetes was reported by study participants along with a high prevalence of the risk factors associated with the premature onset of diabetes and its consequences. CONCLUSION: Collaborative partnerships between health professionals and community leaders can help identify opportunities and strategies for improving the health of the nation's population subgroups. San Diego's Chamorro community leaders now have a clearer understanding of the prevalence of diabetes risk factors within their community and can begin working with public health educators to create culturally aligned diabetes prevention and management programs. Given the willingness of Chamorro leaders to get involved in the development of a diabetes awareness campaign and the community's closely knit social network, it should be possible to promote (1) community participation in the intervention program, (2) an increase in the community's adherence to recommended behavioral changes, and (3) identification of additional program modifications that will further enhance the program's cultural relevance.