Diabetes and Healthy Eyes Toolkit: Helping Community Health Workers Educate Hispanics/Latinos about Diabetic Eye Disease

Objective: Describe the development and use of the Diabetes and Healthy Eyes Toolkit for community health workers and raise awareness about the educational resources that are available through NEI.

Methods: The Diabetes and Healthy Eyes Toolkit was developed by the NEHEP in conjunction with the Midwest Latino Health Research, Training, and Policy Center. The Toolkit provides community health workers with detailed guidance and instructional tools for educating people with diabetes about related eye disease complications. The Toolkit features a flipchart with colorful graphics for use in small group settings, a comprehensive module that provides background information on diabetic eye disease and assists presenters in using the flipchart, and a full-color photonovella-style booklet about the importance of proper eye care for distribution to participants. In 2008, community health workers pilot-tested the Toolkit in Arizona, California, New Mexico, New York, and Texas.

Results: Pilot-test results showed that the Toolkit helped meet a need in Hispanic/Latino communities for eye health information for people with diabetes. Using community health workers’ feedback, NEHEP made content and layout changes to improve usability and reader-friendliness.

Conclusion: By using the Toolkit and other NEI resources, community health workers can play a crucial role in educating people with diabetes about maintaining healthy vision, getting a dilated eye exam at least once a year, and seeking appropriate follow-up care for eye diseases. The information in the Diabetes and Healthy Eyes Toolkit can be incorporated into existing diabetes education programs or used to start new ones.