title: A community-based program to encourage patients' attention to their own diabetes care: pilot development and evaluation.
abstract: The authors evaluated the ability of a brief educational program to enhance patients' self-care behavior and their familiarity with the meaning and utility of 5 of the major clinical tests in diabetes (A1C, blood pressure, low-density lipoprotein [LDL] cholesterol, microalbumin, and the dilated eye examination).
  
  
  
  Adults with type 1 or type 2 diabetes were invited to attend a free, 90-minute, small-group workshop about diabetes care, which included on-site metabolic testing that provided patients with immediate results and personalized feedback to understand those results. In total, 221 individuals with diabetes participated and completed baseline and 3-month follow-up questionnaires.
  
  
  
  From baseline to 3 months, participants reported significant improvement in following recommendations for meal planning (P < .001), regular exercise (P < .002), and blood glucose monitoring (P < .05) and a significant rise in test awareness for A1C, blood pressure, LDL cholesterol, and microalbumin (in all cases, P < .001).
  
  
  
  A brief educational intervention appeared effective in encouraging patients toward better self-management and more regular metabolic testing and to become more aware of their own test results. Future research should aim to replicate and extend these findings in a randomized controlled trial.
authors.affiliation: The Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego (Dr Polonsky)
authors.forename: William H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Polonsky
authors.affiliation: The University of Hawaii, Honolulu (Ms Zee, Ms Yee, Ms Crosson)
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zee
authors.affiliation: The University of Hawaii, Honolulu (Ms Zee, Ms Yee, Ms Crosson)
authors.forename: Martha Ah
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Yee
authors.affiliation: The University of Hawaii, Honolulu (Ms Zee, Ms Yee, Ms Crosson)
authors.forename: Mary Ann
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Crosson
authors.affiliation: The Joslin Diabetes Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts (Dr Jackson)
authors.forename: Richard A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Jackson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D003153:Community Health Services; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D006254:Hawaii; D006801:Humans; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012648:Self Care