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Non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus is a serious metabolic disorder that affects an estimated 16 million Americans. Among African American women, diabetes has reached epidemic proportions, with 1 in 4 black women 55 years and older having diabetes. It is only within the last decade that diabetes research has begun to examine racial differences in the etiology, treatment, and long-term complications of diabetes. This review bring together the research that focuses on African American women within the context of diabetes research in the general population. Particular emphasis is placed on diabetes risk factors, complications of diabetes, and pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic treatment approaches. Diabetes prevention and public health issues related to diabetes and the African American women are discussed. The literature reviewed points to the importance of screening and early detection of diabetes among high-risk African American women, as well as the need for improved quality of care and patient educational services and programs in diabetes appropriate to the needs of African American women.

Because patient behavior plays a major role in the prevention or precipitation of acute asthma attacks, patient education is an important adjunct to its medical management. A number of self-management education programs for patients with asthma recently have been developed and made available for widespread use. Many are aimed at children over the age of 6 years and their parents. They are designed for use with several types of patients in a variety of settings. Evidence of program effectiveness is of uneven quality, but what is available suggests that a number of the programs can be of significant value in reducing asthma morbidity. Self-management education programs for parents of preschool-age children and for adults with asthma are much less numerous and well developed than those for school-age children. Particular attention is given to the process by which the AIR POWER and AIR WISE programs for children were developed, since this systematic development process is generalizable to patient education programs for other age groups and health problems.