Educating families from ethnic minorities in type 1 diabetes-experiences from a Danish intervention study

Ethnic minorities may constitute vulnerable groups within Western health care systems as their ability to master severe chronic diseases could be affected by barriers such as different culture and health/illness beliefs, communication problems and limited educational background. An intervention focusing on immigrant families with children with type 1 diabetes is described. The intervention included the development of adapted educational material and guidelines, and a subsequent re-education of children, adolescents and parents from 37 families. The study demonstrated that it was possible to improve health outcome. During the study, the knowledge of diabetes increased, but with considerable differences between the families. HbA(1c) also decreased significantly during the intervention, but increased during follow-up. The paper discusses possible explanations and suggestions for optimising education and calls for new projects where ethnic minorities are active participants in the development of appropriate educational programs and material.