An innovative approach to diabetes education for a Hispanic population utilizing community health workers.

Type 2 diabetes disproportionately affects the Hispanic population. New approaches are needed to provide effective education to this population. This evidence-based project utilized community health workers (CHWs) to deliver a culturally relevant diabetes education program to a Hispanic population at a migrant clinic. The program emphasized culturally relevant interventions to improve self-efficacy. Formative evaluation was used to develop and improve the program. Participants showed improvement in diabetes knowledge and diabetes related self-efficacy scores. Outcomes also included improvement in CHWs' diabetes knowledge and development of an educational program that could be utilized in other settings serving Hispanic populations with type 2 diabetes.