Globally, the number of people with type 2 diabetes (T2D) is escalating. In Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are four times as likely to die from T2D or experience serious T2D-related disease as non-Indigenous Australians.
To address this disparity, researchers at Deakin Institute for Health Transformation's Centre for Quality and Patient Safety Research are developing a shared decision-making and health intervention program to improve T2D self-management among Aboriginal people.
Their recent Australian Health Review article describes the cultural tailoring of an established program called Guided Self-Determination (GSD), which is used overseas with numerous chronic disease cohorts. This is the world's first adaptation of GSD with Indigenous peoples and offers a fresh perspective on the treatment of T2D.
The researchers modified the GSD reflection sheets for Aboriginal communities after gathering feedback from two Aboriginal-led co-design workshops with Aboriginal people living with T2D and health care practitioners, including diabetes nurse educators.
Corresponding author and research fellow in Aboriginal health Tanya Druce, a proud Wiradjuri woman, said, "Throughout the co-design workshops, we respected, protected and maintained Indigenous knowledge, practices and innovations to ensure a culturally safe project for our participants. It wasn't for the mob or about the mob but with the mob, which was important."
