Conectar
Chinese-speaking immigrants in Australia have a higher risk of type 2 diabetes and face more barriers to accessing quality healthcare compared to non-culturally and linguistically diverse populations. This study aimed to explore the self-management experiences of Chinese-speaking Australians with self-reported lived experience of prediabetes following immigration.
Qualitative study.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 purposively selected Australian Chinese-speaking immigrants aged over 40 years. Data collection was undertaken in Perth, Western Australia between April and August 2024. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.
Three themes are presented in this paper: (1) An acculturation journey: Reshaping cultural identity and social connections in immigrant lives, (2) Embodying prediabetes: Cognitive reconstruction and emotional adaptation in the transition to the patient role and (3) Decision-behaviour dynamics: Mapping agency and adaptiveness in self-management processes. Participants demonstrated dynamic adjustment through the processes of self-awareness, adaptive behaviours, self-reflection and self-attribution of health outcomes.
Chinese-speaking Australians navigating prediabetes following immigration underwent a complex process of reconstruction across cognitive, cultural and psychological domains. Prediabetes self-management was shaped by cultural values, acculturation, dietary preferences, emotional resilience, local and distant social networks and resource availability. These findings underscore the importance of empowering both individuals and communities through evidence-based and culturally appropriate strategies.
Participants experienced profound transformations in their cultural adaptation, prediabetes cognition, social support networks and emotional–psychological landscape. Future interventions must address identified barriers (e.g., cooking burden, comorbidities, stress), facilitators (e.g., leisure travel, family support), motivations (e.g., cultural heritage, health risk perception) and challenges (e.g., knowledge–behaviour gap, digital health information) that shape self-management behaviours. A community empowerment approach, utilising evidence-based content, flexible delivery formats and existing cultural networks, should be adopted to offer promising pathways for prediabetes health education.
The study adhered to the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research guidelines.
Limited patient and public involvement was incorporated, with two community representatives providing feedback on interview questions and recruitment strategies.
Research priorities guide research activities, funding and resources within health services. To ensure that research efforts are meaningful and impactful, it is vital that organisational research agendas reflect the priorities of both healthcare consumers and staff, alongside broader national and international research frameworks. This paper outlines a research priority-setting project conducted across two hospitals in Western Australia, aimed at identifying shared research priorities through a collaborative and inclusive approach.
To identify the top ten nursing and allied health research priorities for two hospitals in Western Australia.
A modified James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership approach was used, involving health services users, nurses, allied health professionals, and community members in a co-design approach across three phases. In phase 1, four community conversations were conducted to elicit an initial set of research topics. This data-informed phase 2, a survey to collect diverse views from a wider participant pool. In phase 3, a pre-selected sample of potential research priorities was discussed in a consensus workshop to reach a group consensus of the top ten research priorities. Qualitative data was analysed using multi-step thematic analysis, and quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics.
A total of 67, 151 and 18 people participated across study phases 1, 2 and 3, respectively, comprising nurses, allied health professionals, healthcare users, carers, and interested community members. The top ten research priorities reflected three areas: healthcare systems re/design (streamlining care; access to healthcare; patient journey and quality of care), workforce needs (workforce well-being, retention and adequate staffing; workforce training), and specific health issues and needs (dementia and delirium; mental health; caring for carers; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health; palliative care and elderly people).
The research priorities identified in this study for two hospitals in Western Australia reflect the strong desire of nurses, allied health professionals, healthcare users and community members to improve structural issues in healthcare systems. This includes how healthcare systems are designed and integrated with each other, how workforce needs affect service delivery, and a greater focus on holistic service provision for specific health issues and needs.
Healthcare consumers were an integral part of this study. Healthcare consumers were involved in the design of the study, the conduct of the study, and the review of the data analysis.
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