Rise of Diabetes Cases among South Asian Indian Women - Essay Example

?Running Head: therory paper- model- diabetes Theory Paper- Model- Diabetes of the of the of the [Course] Abstract Diabetes has emerged as one of the most common and deadliest of diseases across the world affecting the mental and physical state of an individual by weakening the body and its functions. It is most common in elder people having high weight issues and family history of diabetes problem. However, South Asian Indian women are highly prone to diabetes because of insulin resistance and high calorie diet. South Asians are emigrants and second generation from India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The paper aims at discussing the impact and influence of diabetes on South Asian Indian women rather covering the whole South Asia. This would also help in understanding reasons behind the high prevalence of diabetes among these women along with developing a program to curtail the overall impact and influence of diabetes in the short as well as in the long run (Jenum, Birkeland, 2005) It needs to be understood that Type-2 Diabetes is quite common among Asian Indian women that creates Insulin resistance along with disallowing blood sugar to enter into cells and thus affecting the energy level. It is often believed that high weight and calorie rich diet along with genetics play an important role in increasing the chances of diabetes. There is no denying that Asian Indian women are on a healthier side because of high consumption of oily and rich food stuffs. Their living standard and life style also makes things difficult for them in the short as well as in the long run (Ramachandran, Vijay, 1999). The assignment aims at highlighting health care problems pertaining to diabetes in an informative and analytical manner along with offering solutions and measures to control its impact and influence. For this purpose, Precede Proceed Model would be used to increase the effectiveness of study. The whole idea is to understand the health pattern, health issues and health resistance of Asian Indian Women in context to diabetes. Health Care Problems The rise of diabetes cases among South Asian Indian women is often considered as an alarming sign in the health communities across the world. People of South Asian community carry diabetes and heart attack risks more than any other ethnic community across the world. As per Nishan Wijenaike (2007), diabetologist consultant in West Suffolk Hospitals, United Kingdom, diabetes problem is quite common in Asian Women because of insulin resistance and obesity issues. Insulin resistance is closely associated with the obesity that often increases the weight along with other health complications like heart problems and kidney failures. There is no denying that diet and lifestyle plays a major role in diabetes often responsible for its aggravation in the short as well as in the long run. The high fat diet and low level of physical activities increase the body weight supporting the insulin resistance and affecting the body glucose and energy level in a negative manner. Diabetes is a chronic disease caused due to genetic factor and a mixture of urbanization factors like high calorie diet, less physical activities, limited access to greenery and fresh air and imbalanced diet. Women suffering from diabetes can only be educated and motivated to minimize its impact along with controlling it using effective measures like proper diet and healthy living (Sriskantharajah Kai, 2006) At the same time, it is important to create awareness among women not suffering from diabetes but having chances of getting affected by it in the future. It is believed that precaution is better than cure and thus there is a need of an effective diabetes control program creating awareness along with motivating Asian Women in an exemplary manner. There is a need to create awareness at the community level along with including health care communities and women to discuss the diabetes issue along with coming up with solutions to minimize its impact and influence over the current and future sufferers. Precede Proceed Model In order to create awareness and motivate South Asian Indian Women, Precede Proceed Model would be used to assess the diabetes problem along with finding solutions to minimize its impact in the long run. Precede Proceed Model is a framework that enables policy planners, health care professionals and evaluators to assess health programs along with assessing the health and quality of life of individuals and communities in an effective manner (Green, Kreuter, 1991). The most interesting and arguably the most logical part of this model is including participants in the discussion along with defining, assessing and sharing health related problems. There is no denying that health factors are driven by individual and environmental factors and thus it is important to analyze both in a critical manner. Program’s Mission Statement The program has been named as “Bye-Bye Diabetes” with a mission statement of creating awareness among South Asian Indian women in New York. As per the US Census Bureau, a large number of Asian Indians have been living in New York and this would offer a chance to communicate with a number South Asian women. The mission statement has been supported well by proposed objectives discussed below. Program’s Goals The program’s objectives include: To create awareness on diabetes issue among South Asian Indian Women through discussion, problem sharing and analysis of social, economic and environmental factors To offer solutions using Precede Proceed Model in the program “Bye-Bye Diabetes” curtailing diabetes and motivating women to deal with it Using Precede Proceed Model The Precede Proceed Model consists of four planning phases, one implementation phase and three evaluation phases. After assessing the planning, implementation and evaluation phases, findings, solutions and benefits of the program would be shared in an informative and logical manner. The different phases of Precede Proceed Model used in “Bye-Bye Diabetes” control program include: Phase-1 Social Diagnosis It is important to diagnose the need and demands of the society along with finding and addressing key issues. The key issue to be addressed is influence of diabetes in South Asian Indian women and thus there is a need of effective communication with them. This stage would include understanding them and their problems through interviews, surveys and focus groups offering demographic data and information that can be further assessed in terms of age, economic status, lifestyle, food habits and perceptions. Phase-2 Epidemiological, Behavioral and Environmental Analysis Epidemiological assessment includes determining the specific health issue that is diabetes in this case and is related with the behavioral and environmental factors in order to develop goals and objectives. However, goals and objectives have been developed beforehand because of the clear vision on the need for Precede Proceed Model. The use of secondary data and information often helps in understanding the past demographics and social norms of a particular community, city and state. The behavioral analysis would help in understanding the behavior of South Asian Indian Women on their food habits, physical activities and medical understanding over diabetes. The environmental factors would help in analyzing the reasons behind the intake of high calorie rich diet and little physical activities. Phase-3 Education and Ecological Diagnosis This part analyzes the behavior and attitude of participants by assessing predisposing, enabling and reinforcing factors. Predisposing factors include knowledge that describes the understanding of a participant on issues related to diabetes. For an example; eating high calorie and oily food having good amount of sugar leads to diabetes problem is based on knowledge that needs to be understood and analyzed through views and opinions of participants. At the same time attitude, beliefs, values and perceptions over diabetes would be analyzed to understand the awareness level of women suffering from diabetes. Enabling factors like availability of health care communities, access to health care services and role of health care communities in creating awareness would be analyzed and assessed. Reinforcing factors like health care communities, health leaders, opinion leaders, family members, doctors and NGOs would be analyzed as per their relevance and importance in educating diabetic women along with finding loopholes and eradicating them within time. Phase-4 Administrative and Policy Diagnosis This part assesses the program’s concerns, assessment of resources, allocation of budget and certain barriers. This particular program requires participation of Asian Indian Women, local health care institutes and health communities to identify their contribution. The budget would be sponsored by the local health care community along with some help from local NGOs. The mission statement and objectives would be assessed based on this evaluation in order to assess and analyze the current standing. There would be a need of proper space to conduct the program and thus prior permission from local authorities would be taken to eliminate barriers acting as an obstacle in the proposed program. This would help in implementing the programs in a clear and transparent manner offering results and value. Phase-5 Implementation of the Program After assessing the impact and influence of social, economic, environmental and peer factors along with analyzing the personal perceptions, attitudes and beliefs of participants, program would be implemented. The program would be carried out in different phases including: Phase-6 Process Evaluation This part would analyze whether the proposed program has been conducted in a desired manner or not. This would include cross checking of activities being performed by volunteers, doctors and health care communities along with assessing the whole process from the time of inception. This would include: Phase-7 Impact Evaluation This part would help in assessing the impact of the proposed program. This would also help in identifying whether the program has achieved its goals and objectives or require further assistance and support to make it more impactful. This would be done by analyzing the feedback of participants along with assessing their opinions and views over the program. This would also include: Phase-8 Outcome Evaluation This part would assess and evaluate the outcomes. The proposed program named “Bye-Bye Diabetes” aims at creating awareness on diabetes issues among Asian Indian Women through thorough analysis over their behavior, attitude and perceptions along with analyzing the impact and influence of social, economic and environmental factors. If the outcomes are positive, the same program would be introduced in order to assess the improvement along with coming up with advanced knowledge and information minimizing the impact and influence of diabetes. This would also help in achieving the program’s goals and objectives in a desired manner. The benefits and advantages of the proposed program have been discussed in the next part. Importance and Benefits of the Proposed Program The proposed program, “Bye-Bye Diabetes” aims at creating awareness on diabetes problems and solutions among Asian Indian Women. The importance of the programs in terms of benefits includes: Offering a chance to understand the prime reason behind the prevalence of diabetes among Asian Indian women Creating awareness through knowledge and expert opinions Promoting healthy lifestyle by offering healthy solutions Eliminating social and economic barriers Conclusion The proposed program would be carried in a systematic manner using Precede Proceed Model. The use of questionnaire and surveys would help in garnering demographic data followed by health related information offering an idea on the health status of participants. At the same time, healthy and complete health guidance would be offered minimizing the influence of diabetes. The program would be carried for a month where experts would be sharing their knowledge with diabetic women along with offering them solution. It can be assumed that the whole program is designed to add some value in the existing social system along with improving health standards. This is going to be an ongoing process and thus creating a difference in the life of women suffering from diabetes. Diabetes being a chronic disease cannot be eliminated from an individual’s life but can be controlled by following healthy tips. This program would act as a helping hand for women willing to fight diabetes through healthy lifestyle and understanding its impact and influence over the personal life. References Green, L., Kreuter, M. (1991). Health promotion planning: An educational and environmental approach. 2nd edition. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing Company Jenum AK, Birkeland KI (2005). Ethnicity and sex are strong determinants of diabetes in an urban Western society: implications for prevention. Diabetologica 2005; 48: 435-9.06 Janani Sriskantharajah and Joe Kai (2006) Promoting physical activity among South Asian women with coronary heart disease and diabetes: what might help? Retrieved from http://fampra.oxfordjournals.org/content/24/1/71.full Nishan Wijenaike (2007). “Diabetes in People of South Asian Origin” Retrieved from http://www.diabetesuffolk.com/UnderstandingDiabetes/Diabetes%20in%20South%20Asians.htm Ramachandran A, Vijay V. (1999). Impacts of urbanisation on the lifestyle and on the prevalence of diabetes in native Asian Indian population. Diabetes Res Clin Pract 1999:44 (3); 207-13 Read More