The role of acculturation in diabetes self-management among Chinese Americans with type 2 diabetes

Aims: We sought to examine the acculturation level and its relationship with diabetes self-management among Chinese Americans with type 2 diabetes. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey research study in a convenience sample of 211 Chinese Americans with type 2 diabetes. We measured acculturation and diabetes self-management and evaluated the association between acculturation and self-management behaviors after controlling participants' characteristics using structural equation modeling. Results: The majority of the participants was born outside the U.S. and had a low level of acculturation. Women and older individuals were less acculturated, and those who had higher social economic status and lived in the U.S. for a longer period were more acculturated. The results of the structural equation modeling demonstrated that acculturation was significantly associated with DM self-management, and more-acculturated individuals were more likely to perform DM self-management than less-acculturated ones after controlling demographic characteristics. Conclusions: The results of this study indicated that Chinese Americans diagnosed with diabetes may benefit from acculturation to mainstream society probably because increased acculturation was associated with increased help seeking behaviors and increased use of professional services. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.