Chinese Nutrition Educational Materials for Renal Patients

STATISTICS CANADA’S 2001 Census Data reported that 17% of the population in Vancouver is of Chinese background. Providing nutrition education to patients of other cultures with limited English comprehension can be challenging. Therefore, we addressed this issue by developing patient educational materials in Chinese to serve this clientele in the renal program. Our goal was to support the understanding and application of accurate renal-friendly eating messages that were tailored to patients’ specific language and cultural needs.

Once the need to communicate specific diet or nutrition information to the Chinese population was identified by renal dietitians, a Chinese software program was used to develop the Chinese handouts. Draft copies were reviewed by dietitians and selected patients who use Chinese and are familiar with the Chinese culture. This was to ensure the resources had accurate translation, could be used by both the Cantonese and Mandarin speaking populations, reflected the Chinese culture, were simple and easy to understand, and were printed in suitable size for readability.

The resources went beyond direct translation of already available nutrition materials in English, and were modified to reflect the characteristics of traditional Chinese cuisine. The resources featured culturally appropriate food items and eating patterns. Each resource also had an English counterpart so all dietitians could understand and use the information.

Eight nutrition educational handouts (listed below) were developed for the renal area at St. Paul’s Hospital:

Patients and their family members expressed satisfaction in receiving information they could readily understand and utilize. They found the culturally friendly information was easy to relate to and helpful in reducing their anxiety of renal diet restrictions. We hope you will find the following sample handouts (Figure 1, Figure 2) useful.

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Figure 1. Low-Phosphorus Diet handout (Chinese).

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Figure 2. Low-Phosphorus Diet handout (English).