"Give me some sugar!" the diabetes self-management activities of African-American primary caregiving grandmothers.

Purpose: To compare the diabetes self-management activities of African American primary caregiving grandmothers before and after the initiation of caregiving and to compare the diabetes self-management activities of African American primary caregiving grandmothers to diabetic women who were not caring for their grandchildren.

Design: Using a cross-sectional, descriptive design, 68 African American women 55 to 75 years of age were recruited as part of a larger study examining the impact of caregiving responsibilities on the diabetic health of African American primary caregiving grandmothers. Each participant was asked the frequency of their performance of six self-management activities.