The project is about type 2 diabetes self-care management among First Nations People: consistent monitoring of blood sugar, eating a healthy diet, staying physically active, taking medications, access to services, and cultural connectedness.
However, how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples engage with these cornerstones of care, and the required support mechanisms, are poorly understood.
The need
Self-management is the cornerstone of Type-2 diabetes (T2D) prevention, treatment, and complication avoidance, requiring weight management, healthy eating, physical activity, and for some, use of medicines and blood glucose monitoring.
Interventions that target social determinants of health, including social disadvantage, income, education, housing, access to affordable health services, and social connectedness also mitigate the prevalence and complications of T2D.
T2D is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in Australia:(5) 4.6% of Australians (1.2 million people) live with T2D. However, 10.7% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples live with T2D: they have a threefold higher prevalence of T2D, and sixfold higher T2D-related mortality compared to non-Indigenous Australians.
Given the disproportionate prevalence of, and complications from, T2D in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, there is an urgent need for innovative strategies to enhance health outcomes, reduce risk of multimorbidity, and improve wellbeing and quality of life for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples living with T2D.
About
Photovoice (community-based participatory research method), will enable and empower individuals to use visual media to capture and share their experiences. Photovoice aligns with Indigenous knowledge and practices of storytelling and art, allowing participants to tell their stories through visual and verbal mediums, and creating space for Indigenous ways of knowing.
Hence, the study will use Photovoice & Social Ecological Model to understand barriers & enablers of healthy eating, physical activity, medication-taking, self-monitoring of blood glucose, access to services and cultural connectedness among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with T2D at Eastern Health.
Use study findings to guide the creation of visual and storytelling-based educational materials for tailored diabetes education programs, aimed at enhancing care and outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with T2D at Eastern Health.
Impact
- Generate knowledge of the barriers and enablers of diabetes medication-taking, blood glucose monitoring and access to services in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with T2D and inform appropriate supports for diabetes care in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
- Generate knowledge of the barriers and enablers of cultural connectedness, physical activity and access to healthy food among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with T2D and inform future interventions for preventing complications of T2D associated with cultural disconnection, physical inactivity and unhealthy food intake in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
- A co-designed, ecologically valid, and culturally safe toolkit (visual and storytelling-based educational materials) to improve care and outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with T2D at Eastern Health.
Partners
Funding
Our funding is pooled from a number of organisations and research funds.
- Diabetes Australia