Research & Practice
Creation of Culturally Tailored and Bilingual Diabetes Nutrition Calendars for EthnoMed
This public health practicum project focused on the intersection of nutrition education and public health for immigrant and refugee communities in the greater Seattle area. Calendars with culturally sensitive and inclusive content were created in collaboration with the team of caseworkers/cultural mediators (CCMs) at EthnoMed, whose mission is to promote cross-cultural practice by offering culturally-tailored resources related to the clinical care of immigrant and refugee populations. The population-level nutrition problem being targeted was the lack of access to culturally inclusive healthcare (in this case, diabetes- and nutrition-related) information across the United States. This is an increasing area of concern since the majority of healthcare information and educational resources available in the United States is intended for English-speaking audiences and is both monolingual and monocultural. In the area of diabetes, which has its lowest prevalence among white Americans (at 6.9% of adults) and highest incidences among Native American (13.6%), Black (12.1%), Hispanic (11.7%), and Asian (9.1%) communities, the need for culturally inclusive content is particularly pressing (CDC, 2023). As diabetes is a disease that can be significantly impacted by lifestyle changes both before and after diagnosis, it is crucial for reliable diabetes education materials to be accessible to as many individuals as possible. Methods included a literature review of current diabetes nutrition recommendations; a review of past EthnoMed calendars to identify areas needing improvement, updates, or correction; research into the languages, culture, traditions, and food of the eight (or nine, including the new Thai calendar) existing language calendars; creating detailed outlines and plans for all eight calendars including suggestions and questions; communicating with CCMs at EthnoMed to receive feedback and suggestions; and finally, creating the calendar files on Canva. Drafts were completed for calendars in Amharic, Tigrinya, Dari, and Vietnamese. Immediate next steps include EthnoMed review of the remaining calendar outlines and the creation of drafts for the 2025 calendars with new translations, as well as calendar photography and graphic design.
Community Partner: EthnoMed
Materials Available
Project Type(s): MPH Practicum
Author(s): Irene Yoon
Program(s): Master of Public Health, RDN Training
Year: 2024
Adviser(s):