CONCLUSION
These results support the significance of diabetes education
in promoting self-care behaviors among African
American women with Type 2 diabetes. Participants who
participated in diabetes self-management education were
significantly more likely to engage in self-care behaviors
compared to those participants who did not participate
in diabetes self-management education( 45.0%). This is a
very large percentage of women who did not participate
in DSME. This research and the little changed goals of
Healthy People 2020 compared to those suggested for 2010
indicate that targets set for Healthy People 2010 related to
diabetes self-management education have yet to be met.
Therefore, new policies and interventions that are culturally
specific need to be developed and implemented to
improve participation of African American women in their
self-care behaviors to improve their quality of life related
to Type 2 diabetes.
Future research should investigate the impact of other
variables such as health insurance and social support in
DSME. Also survey items used in this study should be
used in gathering data for another study, conducted by
the researcher, instead of trained interviewers so as to
minimize errors in translation.