Participant satisfaction with a culturally appropriate diabetes education program: the Native American Diabetes Project.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report on participant satisfaction with the Native American Diabetes Project diabetes education program.
Methods: A questionnaire was designed to measure satisfaction among participants in the diabetes education program, which consisted of five sessions designed according to the Transtheoretical Model of Change and Social Action Theory with input from community members. Eight pueblo communities participated in the program. Sessions were taught by community mentors in three sites in New Mexico. One site taught sessions in a one-on-one format, and two sites taught sessions in a group format.
Results: The results showed that participant satisfaction did not vary based on session delivery type or by session site. Overall, participants responded positively to sessions designed according to Social Action Theory and with cultural competency. Retention rates for the sessions were 81% for group sessions and 91% for one-one-one sessions.
Conclusions: Using a strong theoretical framework and community input to design diabetes education sessions may be important factors in participant satisfaction and retention in diabetes lifestyle education sessions.