Identifying barriers to diabetic self-management education for adult Hispanic males

This quality improvement project explores diabetes self-management barriers for adult Hispanic males with type II diabetes mellitus at the Texas A&M Coastal Bend Health Education Center (CBHEC). Since diabetes is one of the leading causes of death for Hispanic persons, especially men with behavioral characteristics associated with machismo, information on barriers preventing adult, Hispanic male attendance at CBHEC would help to improve their program. The director of this quality improvement project administered a Masculine Behavior Scale (MBS) questionnaire, conducted individual interviews, and identified essential elements of the participants’ experience which can be used to improve the CBHEC program. Recommendations were formulated for stakeholders to improve program offerings and encourage attendance of adult Hispanic males with identified barriers and serve as a basis for future projects to improve patient outcomes for the target population.