| Limited English speaking minorities such as Samoans in the United States are a growing concern as these individuals' health rapidly becomes worse with the length of stay in the U.S. Studies on non-communicable chronic dietary-health related diseases such as diabetes, have reported that people with inadequate understanding of dietary-health related information have resulted in end stage outcomes. Chronic dietary health diseases are four times more prevalent among Limited English speaking minorities compared to the mainstream population. Studies have also explored this phenomenon with other minorities, but have yet to examine the Limited English speaking Samoan group. Little is known about Samoan perceptions of how they learn about dietary-health related information. The specific problem addressed in this study was there is no understanding of how Samoan Limited English speaking immigrants with chronic diseases in the Dallas Fort Worth area learn about dietary-health related issues. The purpose of this study was to explore or understand Limited English speaking Samoan immigrants' perceptions of how they learn about dietary-health related information. Qualitative narrative inquiry was used to facilitate a purposive sample of eight Samoan Americans with chronic conditions. The sample was recruited from a church in the Southwest region of the U.S. Eleven themes emerged from analysis: (a) limited insight to the existence of DH information, (b) non-adherence to DH information, (c) difficulties learning and seeking DH information, (d) lack of knowledge of DH information, (e) limited DH information source choices, (f) family DH information sources, (g) community DH information source choices, (h) high regard for authority, (i) prior experience and perception of DH decisions, (j) Samoan cultural DH beliefs, and (k) perseverance and persistence. Recommendations for future research included: (a) a mixed method study to expound particular spectrum of learning, (b) a qualitative multiple case study research to expound on the different approaches of teaching and coaching and (c) a qualitative grounded theory to determine new theories for mentoring approaches to LES minorities' information awareness. |
