Cultural Values and Political Economic Contexts of Diabetes Among Low-Income Mexican Americans

Purpose: To explore the political and economic dimensions of diabetes self-management for Mexican American adults. Design and methods: Critical ethnographic analysis of focus group data from caregivers and adults with diabetes. Findings: Three themes were identified: diabetes self-management is tied to other mental and bodily states, family and neighborhood environments cause stress and prevent diabetes solutions, and hassles of the health care environment subvert self-management. Discussion and conclusions: Cultural constructs about diabetes merge with social-political forces in explaining diabetes. Implications for practice: Cultural competence in diabetes care requires attention to the political economy of the disease and advocacy for healthful political and economic change.