A community-based program to encourage patients' attention to their own diabetes care: pilot development and evaluation.
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.
Polonsky
William H
WH
The Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego (Dr Polonsky)
Zee
Julia
J
The University of Hawaii, Honolulu (Ms Zee, Ms Yee, Ms Crosson)
Yee
Martha Ah
MA
The University of Hawaii, Honolulu (Ms Zee, Ms Yee, Ms Crosson)
Crosson
Mary Ann
MA
The University of Hawaii, Honolulu (Ms Zee, Ms Yee, Ms Crosson)
Jackson
Richard A
RA
The Joslin Diabetes Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts (Dr Jackson)
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