OBJECTIVE -We examined if active family nutritional support is associated with improved metabolic outcomes for Diné (Navajo) individuals living with type 2 diabetes.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS -The presence of family support, using variables identified in earlier ethnographic research, was assessed via surveys in a convenience sample of 163 diabetic individuals. Diabetes outcome measures (HbA 1c , serum glucose, triglycerides, total cholesterol, creatinine, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure measures) were extracted from participants' medical records. Bivariate analyses and multiple logistic regressions were conducted.RESULTS -All measures of family support showed a relation with one or more indicators of metabolic control in bivariate analyses. In multivariate analyses, respondents were more likely to be in the best tertile for triglyceride (P Ͻ 0.05), cholesterol (P Ͻ 0.05), and HbA 1c (P Ͻ 0.05) if another person cooked most of the meals. Respondents in families who bought/cooked "light" foods were more likely to be in the best tertile for triglyceride (P Ͻ 0.005) and cholesterol levels (P Ͻ 0.005), and those in families whose members ate "light" foods with them were more likely to be in the best tertile for triglycerides (P Ͻ 0.005). When all three support variables were entered into a multivariate model, only the variable "other family members cook the majority of the meals" was significantly associated with being in the lowest triglyceride (P ϭ 0.05), HbA 1c (P Ͻ 0.05), or cholesterol tertiles (P Ͻ 0.05). These relationships were most evident for women with diabetes.CONCLUSIONS -Active family nutritional support, as measured by culturally relevant categories, is significantly associated with control of triglyceride, cholesterol, and HbA 1c levels. The findings suggest that the family is a more useful unit of intervention for Diné individuals than for the individual alone when designing diabetes care strategies. Diabetes Care 26:2829 -2834, 2003D iabetes has reached epidemic proportions among the Diné (Navajo): over one in five adults aged Ն20 years (22.9%) have diabetes, which is a prevalence rate five times higher than the age-standardized rate for the U.S. population as a whole (1). Among Diné individuals aged 45-64 years and Ն65 years, diabetes prevalence rates increase to 40.1 and 41.3%, respectively (1). Complications from the disease can also be devastating. Nearly one-third (30.9%) of those with the disease had cardiovascular disease, which is a rate 5.2 times greater than age-and sex-matched Diné without diabetes (2). Cerebrovascular disease, peripheral vascular disease, microalbuminuria, and hospital admissions occurred at rates 10.2, 6.8, 4, and 2 times greater, respectively, for Diné with diabetes than for those without the disease (2-4). Among Diné with diabetes, 30% reported problems with vision, 20% with feet, and 17% with kidneys (1). Thus, identification of factors that improve metabolic control in the disease is of paramount importance to the Diné.Fisher et al. (5) have identified f...

In this article I assess what premises underlie the categories berdache, "alternate gender," "gay," and "two‐spirit"; and whether these premises are relevant to the ways in which many Navajos construct the "alternate gender" of those known as nádleehí. Proponents of these categories often extricate traits from their contexts and perceive male and female as mutually opposed, absolute values. Many Navajos, however, describe traits as inseparable from the universe and view male and female as situational values. [Native American, Navajo, gender, sexuality, worldview]

Molded in the Image of Changing Woman: Navajo Views on the Human Body and Personhood. Maureen Trudelle Schwarz. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1997. 300 pp.

It's seven months into your ten-month grant,. your computkr just crashed, your c a t ' s f o o d bowl was emptyso he destroyed your back-up discs, it's the wrong season to discuss certain native teachings and you couldn't go anywhere i f you wanted to-you have a frat tire and no spare. Over the next few months, we'll present how peoplE have adaptedtheir fieldwork, research and w60rk for sit&-tions such as these. Topics may cover ways to do fieldwork without going to rhe field, library research from 1000 miles away (and without a computer), personal insights into the researcherresearchee relationship, as well as clever ways of managing difJicult situations at work and school.

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