Introduction and Objective: Diabetic foot ulceration is a complication of diabetes which may lead to lower extremity amputation and disability with impaired quality of life. It disproportionately affects persons of minority ethnic backgrounds who also have poorer outcomes. This study aims to develop a culturally appropriate diabetic foot education tool for foot ulcer prevention and early treatment in an Afro-Caribbean community in BarbadosMethods: An equal arms mixed methods approach was used. This included: 1) a quantitative prospective six-month inpatient cohort study which analyzed demographic and ulcer characteristics of persons admitted with foot ulcer to the island’s lone tertiary- level hospital; and 2) A qualitative study at the primary care level using focus groups, dyads and triads with health care professional and persons living with diabetes (PLWD) and foot ulcer to identify preferred methods for receiving health education to inform design of a scalable ulcer prevention education interventionResults: Inpatient characteristics determined that persons most needing the intervention were average age of 63.4 + 11.2 years and of lower socio-economic groups (Income level $ US 0-25000 annual income and those on social services benefits). Video-based ulcer prevention information given by a medical doctor, using short, culturally relatable speech was viewed as most reliable and useful by the population. Data iteratively informed the design of an educational tool based on a traditional childhood Caribbean game; “Red Light, Green Light 1-2-3”.Conclusion: Culturally accessible video-based health education tools are desirable to PLWD in Barbados, and may be useful in similar Caribbean populations including American diasporic populations, who may have poorer uptake with traditional self-management programmes.
L. Lovell: None. M.V. Barrow: None. J.P. Niles-Morris: None. N.S. Greaves: Research Support; Pfizer Inc.
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