Diabetes Prevention Program for Navajo Elders

Principal Investigator Sally Davis smdavis@unm.edu Project Identifier Core Project, 1998–2004

• University of New Mexico: Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention

Researchers designed and are testing a program to help reduce the rate of diabetes among Navajo elders (aged 55 years or older). The program, Healthy Path, incorporates traditional beliefs, values, and foods of the Navajo elder community, and it is designed to help elders make healthy dietary and physical activity choices. About 200 elders at ten senior centers in the eastern area of the Navajo Nation are participating in the program. Researchers collaborated with long-standing Native American partner agencies, tribal health educators, and community groups to implement the program, and results will be shared with the Eastern Navajo Health Board, the Eastern Area Council on Aging, and the Navajo Institutional Review Board.