The Interpersonal level of the Ecological Analysis includes family, friends, co-workers, social groups, relationships and social support. These people in your life can have a great impact on your life with Diabetes or your risk of having Diabetes. For people who have Type 2 Diabetes, the people around you can be there to support you and motivate you to get proper exercise and eat healthy. They can also be there to help with things like testing blood glucose levels and taking insulin shots. I feel that another large role of family in regards to Diabetes is letting everyone know about their disease so that they are prepared. Diabetes is hereditary so family members need to be aware of their higher risk for this disease if other family members currently have it. Below I have attached information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on how to talk to family members about diseases and risks.
Gather and Share Your Family Health History
If you are concerned about a disease running in your family, talk to your doctor at your next visit. A doctor can evaluate all of the risk factors that may affect your risk of some diseases, including family history, and can recommend you a course of action to reduce that risk.
Thanksgiving is National Family History Day
The US Surgeon General has declared Thanksgiving to be National Family History Day, encouraging Americans to share a meal and their family health history. Family health history information can help health care providers determine which tests and screenings are recommended to help family members know their health risk. This year the Surgeon General updated and improved the My Family Health Portrait
tool, which can help individuals collect and organize family history information. Learn more about family health history.
tool, which can help individuals collect and organize family history information. Learn more about family health history. Family members share genes, behaviors, lifestyles, and environments, which together may influence their risk for developing chronic diseases. Most people have a family health history of common chronic diseases (e.g., cancer, heart disease, or diabetes) and other health conditions (e.g., high blood pressure and high cholesterol). A person with a close relative affected by a chronic disease may have a higher risk of developing that disease than a person who doesn't.
Americans know that family history is important to their health. One survey found that 96 percent of Americans believe that knowing their family history is important. Yet, the same survey found that only one-third of Americans have ever tried to gather and write down their family's health history. Are you ready to collect your family health history but don't know where to start?
Make a list of relatives.
Write down the names of blood relatives you need to include in your history.
- The most important relatives to talk to for your family history are your parents, your brothers and sisters, and your children.
- Next should be grandparents, uncles and aunts, nieces and nephews, and any half-brothers or half-sisters.
- It is also helpful to talk to great uncles and great aunts, as well as cousins.
Prepare your questions.
Among the questions to ask are:
- Do you have any chronic illnesses, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, cholesterol or diabetes?
- Have you had any other serious illnesses, such as cancer or stroke?
- How old were you when you developed these illnesses?
Also ask questions about other relatives, both living and deceased, such as:
- What is our family's ancestry - what country did we come from?
- What illnesses did your late relatives have?
- How old were they when they died?
- What caused their deaths?
To organize the information in your family history you could use a free web-based tool such as My Family Health Portrait.
. Family history can give you an idea of your risk for common diseases like cancer, heart disease and diabetes, but it is not the only risk factor. If you are concerned about a disease running in your family, talk to your doctor at your next visit. A doctor can evaluate all of the risk factors that may affect your risk of some diseases, including family history, and can recommend you a course of action to reduce that risk.
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