Journal of Community Medicine & Health Education
Open Access

Research Article

Diabetes Prevention through Village Health Support Guides in Cambodia: A Qualitative Investigation of Opportunities and Challenges

Julie Wagner^1*, Lim Keuky², Lorraine Fraser-King³, Theanvy Kuoch⁴ and Mary Scully⁴

¹University of Connecticut Health Centre, Farmington, CT-06030, USA

²Doctorate of Pharmacology, D.E.A. Endocrinology, Cambodian Diabetes Association, Siem Reap, Cambodia

³Cambodian Diabetes Association, Siem Reap, Cambodia

⁴Khmer Health Advocates, 1125 New Britain Ave Ste 202, West Hartford, CT-06110, USA

*Corresponding Author:

Julie Wagner
Associate Professor, University of Connecticut Health Centre
MC3910 263 Farmington Ave, Farmington, CT-06030, USA
Tel: +860-679-4508
E-mail: juwagner@uchc.edu

Received date: March 18, 2015; Accepted date: March 30, 2015; Published date: April 03, 2015

Citation: Julie Wagner J, Keuky L, Fraser-King L, Kuoch T, Scully M (2015) Diabetes Prevention through Village Health Support Guides in Cambodia: A Qualitative Investigation of Opportunities and Challenges. J Community Med Health Educ 5:347. doi: 10.4172/2161-0711.1000347

Copyright: © 2015 Wagner J, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Objectives: Lifestyle modification can prevent type II diabetes. Rates of diabetes are high in Cambodia. The Cambodian genocide and its aftermath resulted in destruction of the healthcare system and a critical shortage in the Cambodian healthcare workforce. Cambodia has a well-established system of community health workers, or village health support guides (Guides). This study explored opportunities for and challenges to training Guides to deliver diabetes prevention interventions.

Design: In depth interviews were conducted with 12 Guides in Khmer. Guides also completed a 22-item validated Khmer language quiz regarding their knowledge of diabetes.

Results: Participants were 75% female, on average 52 years old, with 8 years of education and 9 years Guides experience. Guides were aware that diabetes is a problem for their communities and were eager to address it. However, they had very low diabetes knowledge (quiz mean=57% correct). Three themes emerged: dedication to being a Guide, current responsibilities and need for additional and high quality training, and striving to do a good job in the face of barriers and insufficient resources. Participants easily identified factors that would support their own training in diabetes, and factors that would promote their teaching diabetes prevention in their villages.

Conclusions: Diabetes prevention is overdue in Cambodia. Guides are poised to be trained to deliver these programs. Such training should be responsive to their perceived needs. Political will must be cultivated to support appropriate resources.

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