Garcia 1

Minerva Garcia

SWRK 521
Assignment #1: Social Problem

02/22/07

Diabetes Awareness

The social problem that I want to address is the lack of effective diabetes awareness among Hispanics in California. I will attempt to narrow it down to type 2 diabetes among Hispanics in California. According to Spencer, Kieffer, Sinco, et.al. (2006) and Coronado, Thompson, Tejeda, and Godina (2004); they suggest that health providers fail to successfully communicate diabetes awareness to patients of racial minority and ethnic groups. Spencer, Kieffer, Sinco, et.al. (2006) suggests that health providers should communicate and partake in interventions that will help provide awareness to the patient. Type 2 diabetes affects at least 2 million Hispanics in the United States (Coronado, Thompson, Tejeda, and Godina, 2004, p. 576). Additionally, Hispanics on the national level have the worse glycemic and blood pressure control (Spencer, Kieffer, Sinco, et.al., 2006, p. 89). Therefore, this is an issue of major importance on the macro level. Unfortunately, due the magnitude of this problem on the national level it should first be tackled within the Hispanic community California due to its’ large Hispanic population.

The consequence of this problem is that it can further increase the prevalence of diabetes in Hispanics. The primary problem with present day diabetes awareness is that it does not take into consideration the psychosocial factors such as educational level, socioeconomic status, language, and culture. These factors should be considered to

provide effective diabetes awareness within the Hispanic community. Hispanics need to be more conscious and aware of how they should adjust their lifestyles. If the health provider is not successful in communicating effective diabetes awareness the individuals will not properly manage their disease. The impact of this issue to society is that it will increase the prevalence of diabetes on the national level. Additionally, improper management of diabetes can cause emotional stress that can affect the individual’s coping mechanism. This is an important social problem because the lack of diabetes awareness can increase the likely hood for individuals to further develop other health issues such as psychological distress, including mental illnesses (Spencer, Kieffer, Sinco, et.al., 2006, p. 89, 101).

The risk factors associated with this problem are health issues such as psychological distress from not knowing how to coping with diabetes. Other risk factors are individuals of low-income status having more difficulty having access to health care, therefore causing them to develop more serious health and mental issues. Also, there will be higher demand for health care due to the larger number of individuals requiring more medical attention. Additionally, if diabetes awareness is left untreated there will be a higher prevalence of diabetes in Hispanics, higher morality rates, and a higher number of children with this disease. This problem needs urgent attention because the like hood of 2 million Hispanics with diabetes can increase if there is a failure of effectively providing diabetes awareness in California.

References:

Coronado, G.D., Thompson, B., Tejeda, S., and Godina, R. (2004). Attitudes and Beliefs

among Mexican Americans about Type 2 Diabetes. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved , 15, 576–588.


Spencer, M.S., Kieffer, E.C., Sinco, B.R., Palmisano, G., Guzman, J.R., James, S.A.,

Graddy-Dansby, G., Two Feathers, J., and Heisler, M. (2006). Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 17, 88–105.