Date of Paper/Work
8-2022
Type of Paper/Work
Doctor of Nursing Practice Project
Degree Name
Doctor of Nursing Practice
Department
Nursing
First Advisor
Susan Hageness
Department/School
Doctor of Nursing Practice
Abstract
Background: Somali immigrants have been coming to the United States and many other Western countries for over four decades to seek safety, economic stability, and academic opportunities for themselves and their offspring. Somali immigrants arrived in these countries even healthier than the general population (Njeru, et al., 2015). They had many chronic illnesses such as hypertension, hyperlipidemia, obesity and type II diabetes. Currently, despite the availability of health education and healthcare in the United States, type II diabetes is prevalent in the Somali community and is not managed as well as in the general population (Kindarara & Silva, 2019; Udod & Racine, 2017).
Purpose: This Quality Improvement project aimed to educate Type II diabetic Somali patients in a community clinic to improve their poorly controlled hyperglycemia. A diabetic workbook an educational class was used to help patients better understand diabetic processes and improve their diabetes literacy.
Methodology: The educational class sessions took place on two separate days to ensure potential participants had choices and that there were enough samples for the project. Six participants attended the first educational class session, and eight participated in the second session. After the consent was read to participants by a Somali interpreter, the participants who remained agreed to participate in the project implementation. They completed the presurvey and were seated. Anonymous pre-education survey forms were provided to participants by a Somali interpreter, and participants were asked to drop the completed pre-surveys into a locked box. After participants had completed the pre-survey questionnaire, the Somali version of the diabetic workbook was provided to participants. An English version of the diabetic workbook was also made available for class participants who read English fluently. The DNP project leader then gave a culturally-tailored lecture on Type II diabetes, speaking in the Somali language and referencing the Somali version workbook projected on a projector screen. After the DNP project leader ended the educational session, post-survey forms were provided to participants to complete and drop into the locked drop box. At the end of the educational class sessions, the DNP project leader accessed the anonymous pre- and post-educational class surveys from the locked box.
Results: Knowledge of diabetic processes was tested, and a paired samples t-test was used to examine the results. Knowledge was measured as percentage correct. The pre-Knowledge mean was 39.61% and the post-Knowledge mean was 80.15% The mean difference was statistically significant at p <.001. This means there was a significant impact made by the intervention in raising the post-Knowledge scores.
Recommended Citation
Ahmed, Nimo. (2022). Improving Diabetes Literacy Among Somali Immigrants. Retrieved from Sophia, the St. Catherine University repository website: https://sophia.stkate.edu/dnp_projects/176