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The Role of Culture and Health Beliefs in Diabetes Self-Management Among Black African Community in the UK
The research draws on a qualitative study to identify the impact of cultural beliefs on self-management behaviours and the significance of sociocultural approaches to health and illness among Black African people with type 2 diabetes. The study will examine lay perspectives and how they can contribute toward reformulating diabetes management policy in the UK in order to reduce health inequalities.
Type 2 Diabetes is a significant public health issue and one of the growing health problems particularly among Black African community, which presents a multi-faceted challenge to health care systems and expenditure in the UK. There are evidences that people from African descent with type 2 diabetes has poor health outcomes. Behavioural changes approaches to health promotion have increasingly been influenced by social, economic and collective model of health. However, the role of culture and health beliefs is yet to be integrated into such an approach when working with the Black African community in the UK. Realizing the multi-faceted nature of type 2 diabetes, integrated, cohesive and holistic approaches shaped by a sociocultural perspectives are important for promoting self-management practices among people with type 2 diabetes to avert any long-term complications, improve diabetes care delivery and reduce health inequalities.
Data will be collected through interviews conducted amongst the Black African community who live with type 2 diabetes and then, also, health practitioners to examine the difference in cultural understanding and interpretation of diabetes self-management behaviour within the cultural group. Better understanding of the relationship between the contextual determinants of healthy behaviours and outcomes among people with type 2 diabetes could facilitate the development of culturally sensitive interventions programmes that can help to modify beliefs, assist acceptability and support self-management lifestyle among this population.