Twelfth International Conference on Health, Wellness & Society

Abstract

Over the past two decades, the quality of the Tongan-American diet has become of increasing concern to researchers, health professionals, and within the Tongan American communities. Obesity and non-communicable diseases have increased among this population in the last 20 years with obesity now being considered to be an epidemic among Tongan-Americans. Likewise, Tongans have the fifth highest percentage of obese people in the world. In addition, the prevalence of diabetes among Tongan-American adults is also twice as high (21%) as compared to the U.S. population (10%). These health disparities could be addressed by exploring the experiences with dietary behaviors among this population given the link between dietary behaviors and obesity and other chronic diseases such as diabetes. Thus, the purpose of this qualitative study is to better understand the dietary experiences and attitudes of Tongan Americans that contribute to the disproportionate rates of obesity and other chronic diseases in an effort to inform culturally tailored health strategies to address the high incidences. The findings indicate that there are complex behaviors involved with dietary behaviors. Thus, there were various nuances between the Tongan American dietary behaviors and the facilitators and barriers to adopting healthy dietary behaviors among Tongan American adults, including variables at the individual, environmental, sectoral, and socio-cultural levels, as the framework. Therefore, research efforts and intervention initiatives aimed at preventing chronic diseases among Tongan Americans should be adaptable, innovative, multi-component, and multi-faceted, and should be culturally tailored to promote a reconnection to their traditional Tongan dietary practices.