“Family-Centered Decision Making for Korean Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus”
(2020 – 2021)
The global burden of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has markedly worsened over the past 20 years. Weight gain and obesity are typically implicated in T2DM onset. Koreans have one of the highest T2DM prevalence rates in the world, with estimates as high as 20%. Koreans in America show prevalence rates at 11%.This project is meant for social scientists to collaborate with the Korean American community in practicing lifestyle changes that address T2DM. In common practice, practitioners of patient-centered care would use shared decisions making (SDM) to assist patients in deciding ways to address diet, exercise, and medication issues. SDM reflects the view of self-determination in the patient-practitioner exchange; i.e., patients fundamentally seek some autonomy to decide the course of their treatment from options provided by practitioners. However, this approach that focuses on patient decisions alone may ignore a key asset for many Korean’s health; family participation. We proposed a family-centered decision making (FCDM) to enhance family involvement in health decision making for Korean patients. The current project is guided by Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR), in which the project is accomplished through a full partnership of health scientists and key community stakeholders.
This study is funded by the Chicago Center for Diabetes Translation Research. For more information contact Project Lead, Sang Qin at sqin7@iit.edu.