Discusses diabetes nutrition education priorities and strategies; the healthy eating food guide pyramid for Native Americans with diabetes; and teaching with the healthy eating food guide.

Background: Type II diabetes is a chronic disease that remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States. On the national, state, and local levels, the Native American population has continued to experience higher type II diabetes rates than any other racial or ethnic group. In Utah, the overall health status of Native Americans is poorer than other Utahns. Normalization of blood glucose levels through nutrition management is a fundamental aspect of type II diabetes care. The project site, located in Salt Lake City, serves many Native American patients with type II diabetes; however, nutritional education resources are lacking. EBP Framework: Kurt Lewin's Change Theory and The Model for Evidence-Based Practice Change by Rosswurm and Larrabee served as the framework for this quality improvement project. Methods: This project's main objective was to evaluate the effectivenesss of an educational intervention focused on nutrition management of Native American patients with type II diabetes among providers at a single inner-city clinic. Once IRB approval was obtained, a provider in-service occurred. Project participants were comprised of a convenience sample of providers working at the clinic. A pre-survey post-survey design was used to measure the project outcomes. Findings/Results: This project measured the provider's awareness and confidence in providing nutrition education for Native American patients with type II diabetes before and after a educational intervention. The project results suggested that an educational intervention aimed at increasing healthcare providers' awareness and cofidence in using culturally congruent evidence-based tools for nutrition management of diabetes had a significant impact. Conclusion/Recommendations: Implementing an educational intervention increased provder's awareness and confidence in providing culturally congruent nutrition education for the Native American patient with type II diabetes; therefore, it can be concluded that provided with evidence-based nutrition information, providers will induce favorable behavior changes in patients. Such dietary changes can improve the control of type II diabetes and reduce associated comorbidities. It is recommended that clinics serving Native American patients implement ongoing provider education related to culturally congruent nutrition management of type II diabetes.