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BACKGROUND: Chinese immigrants bear a high diabetes burden and face significant barriers to accessing diabetes self-management education (DSME) and counseling programs. OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to examine the feasibility and acceptability and to pilot test the potential efficacy of a social media-based DSME intervention among low-income Chinese immigrants with type 2 diabetes (T2D) in New York City. METHODS: This was a single group pretest and posttest study in 30 Chinese immigrants with T2D. The intervention included 24 culturally and linguistically tailored DSME videos, focusing on diabetes education and behavioral counseling techniques. Over 12 weeks, participants received 2 brief videos each week via WeChat, a free social media app popular among Chinese immigrants. Primary outcomes included the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention. Feasibility was evaluated by recruitment processes, retention rates, and the video watch rate. Acceptability was assessed via a satisfaction survey at 3 months. Secondary outcomes, that is, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), self-efficacy, dietary intake, and physical activity, were measured at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months. Descriptive statistics and paired 2-sided t tests were used to summarize the baseline characteristics and changes before and after the intervention. RESULTS: The sample population (N=30) consisted of mostly females (21/30, 70%) who were married (19/30, 63%), with limited English proficiency (30/30, 100%), and the mean age was 61 (SD 7) years. Most reported an annual household income of
RESUMEN
Could the explosion of genetic research in recent decades affect our conceptions of race? In Backdoor to Eugenics, Duster argues that reports of specific racial differences in genetic bases of disease, in part because they are presented as objective facts whose social implications are not readily apparent, may heighten public belief in more pervasive racial differences. We tested this hypothesis with a multi-method study. A content analysis showed that news articles discussing racial differences in genetic bases of disease increased significantly between 1985 and 2008 and were significantly less likely than non-health-related articles about race and genetics to discuss social implications. A survey experiment conducted with a nationally representative sample of 559 adults found that a news-story vignette reporting a specific racial difference in genetic risk for heart attacks (the Backdoor Vignette) produced significantly greater belief in essential racial differences than did a vignette portraying race as a social construction or a no-vignette condition. The Backdoor Vignette produced beliefs in essential racial differences that were virtually identical to those produced by a vignette portraying race as a genetic reality. These results suggest that an unintended consequence of the genomic revolution may be the reinvigoration of age-old beliefs in essential racial differences.
