Child & Youth Diabetes Strategy

South Asian Adolescent Diabetes Awareness Program

Sansar Foundation

Focus: Prevention, lifestyle intervention

Target Population: South Asian adolescents aged 13-18 years with a family history of type 2 diabetes, and their families

Reach: Peel Region, Ontario (Brampton and central/northeast Mississauga)

Grant: $199,500

Project Goal

To increase awareness and knowledge of type 2 diabetes prevention among South Asian adolescents with a family history of type 2 diabetes.

Project Overview

This project will develop, implement and evaluate a group-based South Asian Adolescent Diabetes Awareness Program (SAADAP) in a clinical setting for South Asian adolescents with a family history of type 2 diabetes. South Asians (originating from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka) comprise the largest visible minority in Peel Region and have among the highest rates of type 2 diabetes. The SAADPP will target the adolescent children of South Asian adults with type 2 diabetes enrolled in Sansar Foundation’s South Asian Cardiovascular Risk Assessment Clinic, which provides comprehensive and culturally tailored cardiovascular risk screening and management to people of South Asian ethnicity.

An interdisciplinary team will develop a culturally sensitive program based on the Diabetes Prevention Program and the Indian Diabetes Prevention Program. Program content will focus on understanding diabetes, related risks and prevention strategies, developing healthier eating habits, increasing physical activity and reducing sedentary behaviour, and maintaining a healthy weight. To focus on behaviour change, the program will use Photovoice to capture youth perspectives as well as the Health Belief Model, the premise of which is that South Asian adolescents will take action to prevent disease if they perceive the problem to be severe in their own community. The eight-week intervention will be offered over a six-month period and will be delivered by a registered kinesiologist and dietitian who are certified diabetes educators. The intervention seeks to ensure that lifestyle changes are initiated and sustained within a family environment.