Running head: WOMENS’S AND GENDER STUDIES 1

Women's and Gender Studies

Name

Institutional Affiliation
WOMEN’S AND GENDER STUDIES 2

Women's & gender studies

The problem statement in the articles review is the Hmong American women living

with diabetes. The problem seems not to be clearly stated because it takes a broader angle of

generalizing all Hmong American women of having diabetes. This makes people to have a

wide range of views and opinion on the subject matter. It would be prudent to narrow down

on the age group of women believed to be suffering from diabetes to give the research more

sensitivity. However, the research question is practically important to the Hmong society

since it gives insight information on what causes diabetes in Hmong women.

The purpose of the study is to determine better ways of care that can be administered

to Hmong American women with diabetes and making it a custom and not only relying on the

nursing theory (Yang et al., 2009). Researchers came up with one hypothesis that states that

Hmong American women are likely to be affected by diabetes due to the difficult

circumstances and struggles experienced in life. However, the researchers did not go ahead to

define some of the key terms for the readers to clearly understand the background of the

research.

The sources cited in the literature review are definitely applicable to the scope of the

study area. Some sources also show a deep research on the healing environmental health

theory and the consciousness of the health science. The references used are also not recent

and range from 1972-2008 (Yang et al., 2009).

There was evidence of biasness in sampling the participants for the research. The

participants were obtained from the urban community clinic charts and reached through a

telephone call. However, it would been more involving if the research team members could

have gone to the community homes and done a randomized controlled trial to get a wide

range of participants. The research team had two female members who could speak Hmong

to the women to avoid language barrier and the whole process was a success.
WOMEN’S AND GENDER STUDIES 3

This is an original study, which involved eight out of twenty women recruited from

the community clinic agreed to participate in the research. The women were registered with

Type 2 diabetes and some had HgbA1c levels (Yang et al., 2009). The participants were

audiotaped in interviews discussions conducted in their homes and the data analyzed to

identify some of the common patterns in their confessions. The videos were then played to

the research team and interpreted by the female Hmong. The dialogue obtained from the

participants revealed important actions that should be taken to improve the community

health.

Hermeneutic-dialectic method was used to analyze the data, which is based on ideas

(Yang et al., 2009). The findings had a connection with the cause of diabetes in women and

the root cause to this problem was the best intervention to achieve positive results in the

future. Most women complained of being illiterate and this resulted into worries that made

them feel stupid. Most participants suggested that the life struggles and cultural changes have

greatly contributed to them living with diabetes. These life struggles included loss of loved

ones, deep grief, isolation, stress, and depression. The weaknesses discussed involved

recruitment of the participants via phone calls, which lead into a small sample size.

Moreover, conducting the interviews in their homes was challenge due to the presence of

family members.

Conclusion clearly validates the purpose of the study and advocates for nurse to

patient dialogue in attempt to discover the new health patterns that affect the community. Its

implications will help nurses to draw new paths towards solving health crisis in our society

and at the end; the community will gain more by living healthier lives. The study

recommends that further research needs to be done in addressing some of the clinical settings

that help in maintaining the sugar levels of diabetic patients.

WOMEN’S AND GENDER STUDIES 4

The study has merit; however, the methods need to be evaluated. The strength and

intensity of the study needs to be increased by finding a larger sample size. The number of

potential risks and internal validity need to be minimized as much as possible. It is also

important to obtain information regarding the validity of Hmong women showing physical

test results of having diabetes. Without this information, it would be potentially meaningless

to evaluate this study.

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Reference

Yang, A., Xiong, D., Vang, E., & Pharris, M. D. (2009). Hmong American women living

with diabetes. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 41(2), 139-148.