Self‐management practices of Chinese Americans with type 2 diabetes

Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine the level of diabetes self‐management and its association with demographic and diabetes‐related characteristics in Chinese Americans with type 2 diabetes. A questionnaire that measured diabetes self‐management and diabetes‐related characteristics was administered to a sample of 211 Chinese Americans with type 2 diabetes living in America. The results indicated that the participants were likely to take medications but less likely to carry out diet, physical activity, self‐monitoring of blood glucose, and foot care behaviors. Associations between diabetes self‐management and demographic and diabetes‐related characteristics were observed. For example, individuals who had less education and were employed were less likely to engage in diabetes self‐management than those with higher education and who were retired, while individuals who had a longer duration of diabetes and used insulin as a treatment more frequently carried out self‐monitoring than those who had a shorter duration of diabetes and used oral hypoglycemic agents. These findings indicate that the self‐management practices among the participants are suboptimal. Research on developing culturally and linguistically appropriate interventions to promote diabetes self‐management for Chinese Americans is warranted.