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Is The Social Environment Influence Type 2 Diabetes

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Studies have shown that the social and built environment can play an important role in the development of type 2 diabetes and self-care behaviors (Christine et al., 2015; Gebreab et al., 2017; Pasala, Rao, & Sridhar, 2010; Sidawi & Al-Hariri, 2012; Smalls, Gregory, Zoller, & Egede, 2014; Winkleby & Cubbin, 2003). Social environment includes factors such as safety, violence, social disorder, social cohesion, and collective efficacy of the neighborhood (National Research Council (US) et al., 2013). Whereas, the built environment can be defined as “environments that are modified by humans, including homes, schools, workplaces, highways, urban sprawls, accessibility to amenities, leisure, and pollution” (Pasala et al., 2010, p. 63). Studies …show more content…

Another cross-sectional study by Gary et al. (2008) explored whether perceived neighborhood problems (e.g., crime, access to exercise facilities, access to public transportation, trash and litter, lighting at night, and access to nearby supermarket) were associated with health outcomes and behaviors among diabetic patients. The findings from this study depicted that more neighborhood problems were reported by individuals who lived in neighborhoods with higher poverty rates (33%) as compared to those who lived in neighborhoods with lower poverty rates (16%) (Gary et al., 2008). This study also found that individuals who reported more neighborhood problems were significantly more likely to smoke (15%) and had poorer control of blood pressure (25% < 130/80 mmHg) in comparison to individuals who reported fewer neighborhood problems (Gary et al., 2008). Additional studies have provided evidence to support the notion that the built and social environment do have significant influence on the development of type 2 diabetes. For example, a population-based cohort study by Gebreab et al. (2017) examined the associations between neighborhood social and physical environments [(e.g., social cohesion, availability of favorable food stores (grocery stores, fruit and vegetable markets, and supermarket chains and non-chain stores), unfavorable food stores (convenience stores, liquor

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