Diabetes curriculum a valuable teaching tool
Diabetes curriculum a valuable teaching tool
Examples of culturally appropriate illustrations
Type 2 diabetes can be prevented or delayed. That's the message emphasized in the "Diabetes Education in Tribal Schools" (DETS) curriculum, written to educate Native American and Alaskan Native children in kindergarten through 12th grade.
"We want to encourage people to make better choices, and we want children to know if there is diabetes in their family, it does not mean they will get diabetes. It is the message of prevention, that Type 2 diabetes can be prevented or delayed with the right healthy lifestyle choices pertaining to food and exercise," explains Carol Maller, MS, RN, CHES, who is working with the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque, NM, to introduce the curriculum to tribal schools.
One of the most important elements of this curriculum is that it is culturally appropriate. It was written by teachers and curriculum developers under the direction of eight tribal colleges and universities in a cooperative agreement with the National Institutes of Health, based in Bethesda, MD.
Also, it underwent several years of pilot and field testing within tribal schools, where improvements were made based on comments from teachers and students, says Maller. The curriculum was officially released in November 2008.
The important cultural angle is that health is life in balance. The DETS curriculum explains the "Health is Life in Balance Circle," a view prevalent among many Native American tribes, as follows:
"Harmony and balance is the American Indian belief in interrelatedness and connectedness with all that is natural. The concept not only explains the interdependence of humans with other animates and inanimates in the world, but it also recognizes the need for individual wellness-the interdependence of physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual well-being.
It is common for American Indians and Alaska Natives to represent this interrelatedness and connectedness by a circle. Individuals are considered whole when their physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional selves exist in harmony. If there is something negative going on with one part of the self, it affects the other parts and causes an imbalance in the whole self."
One of the goals of the program is to increase the understanding of health, diabetes, and maintaining life in balance among American Indian/Alaska Native students. This is accomplished through interactive lessons and hands-on activities in health, science, and social studies, says Maller.
"It is inquiry-based learning, so it is more engaging. Students are challenged to think about different concepts and draw conclusions and do problem solving, and we were very careful not to put science activities together that require a lab. It is very inexpensive activities and materials that anyone would have," explains Maller.
For example, as part of the curriculum, students interview elders in the community, as well as their parents to see how they lived in the past, and then they review their own lifestyle. They look at transportation, food choices, and use of time. This not only helps them see how lifestyle and environment impact health, but it also makes the information personal by linking it to their world, explains Maller.
Cross-cultural message
Although written to be culturally appropriate for Native Americans and Alaskan Natives, the information is universal.
"The curriculum goes beyond Native Americans, because it has a healthy lifestyle message, and it is science-based for all students. It does have a cultural theme for Native American people, but also covers healthy lifestyle choices; and the holistic approach is important, as well," says Maller.
It has relevance for just about everyone who is promoting wellness and healthy lifestyles, she adds. In addition, it is appropriate to many patient populations because of the national epidemic of Type 2 diabetes, she says.
Although designed for use in schools, it is valuable for patient education managers for many reasons, according to Maller. Of course, its cultural appropriateness is one factor.
Patient education managers must be prepared to meet the needs of multiethnic patients, and to do that, it is important to understand the lifestyles of each group. Without understanding where a patient is coming from, and what his or her practices are based on, it is difficult to work on a change of lifestyle for health purposes, explains Maller. The strength of the DETS curriculum is that it is based on culturally based models for healthy living, she adds.
What type of culturally appropriate lesson might an educator expect? One lesson for third and fourth graders is designed to teach students how balance relates to health and how illness can make life out of balance for a time. As background for teachers, balance in the context of health issues is described as "a state of harmony where nothing is out of proportion or overemphasized at the expense of the rest."
To understand how balance relates to health, students divide a paper plate into four sections representing their world, bodies, minds, and feelings. They balance the paper plate on a glue stick and simulate an illness by placing a penny on one section of the circle to cause it to become unbalanced, or to topple.
Through demonstration and discussion, students learn that a problem or illness that affects people's bodies, or other area of life, can make their entire life out of balance. Because some plates topple with the weight of the penny, others tip, and others remain relatively balanced, students learn that some problems don't disrupt a healthy balance very much, like the common cold.
As part of the lesson, students discuss how a person's life can be put back into balance by doing things that get rid of the illness or problem impacting the four parts of a person's life.
Another important factor is that the DETS curriculum is free and can either be downloaded from the web site or ordered in a hard copy. This makes it available to anyone who wants to use it, and wellness programs and diabetes education coordinators are making use of it, says Maller.
Patient education managers can review the curriculum online to see if all or part of the teaching is beneficial to the education program at their health care institution. The curriculum can be accessed at: http://www3.niddk.nih.gov/fund/other/dets/index.htm.)
SOURCE
For more information about the DETS curriculum, contact:
Carol Maller, MS, RN, CHES, Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute, Diabetes Education in Tribal Schools, 9169 Coors Road NW/P.O. Box 10146, Albuquerque, NM, 87184. Telephone: (505) 922-4098. E-mail: [email protected].
Type 2 diabetes can be prevented or delayed.Subscribe Now for Access
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