title: Engaging faith-based resources to initiate and support diabetes self-management among African Americans: a collaboration of informal and formal systems of care.
abstract: Diabetes for Life (DFL), a project of Memphis Healthy Churches (MHC) and Common Table Health Alliance (CTHA; formerly Healthy Memphis Common Table [HMCT]), is a self-management program aimed at reducing health disparities among African Americans with type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Memphis and Shelby County, Tennessee. This program is one of five national projects that constitute The Alliance to Reduce Disparities in Diabetes, a 5-year grant-funded initiative of The Merck Foundation. Our purpose is to describe the faith-based strategies supporting DFL made possible by linking with an established informal health system, MHC, created by Baptist Memorial Health Care. The MHC network engaged volunteer Church Health Representatives as educators and recruiters for DFL. The components of the DFL project and the effect on chronic disease management for the participants will be described. The stages of DFL recruitment and implementation from an open-access to a closed model involving six primary care practices created a formal health system. The involvement of CTHA, a regional health collaborative, created the opportunity for DFL to expand the pool of health care providers and then recognize the core of providers most engaged with DFL patients. This collaboration between MHC and HMCT led to the organization of the formal health network.
authors.affiliation: Memphis Healthy Churches, Memphis, TN, USA patriaj2003@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Patria
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.affiliation: University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA.
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Thorman Hartig
authors.affiliation: Common Table Health Alliance, Memphis, TN, USA.
authors.forename: Renee
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Frazier
authors.affiliation: Memphis Healthy Churches, Memphis, TN, USA.
authors.forename: Mae
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Clayton
authors.affiliation: Memphis Healthy Churches, Memphis, TN, USA.
authors.forename: Georgia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Oliver
authors.affiliation: University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Belinda W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.affiliation: University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA Comprehensive Diabetes and Metabolic Center of Excellence, Memphis, TN, USA.
authors.forename: Beverly J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Williams-Cleaves
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D000368:Aged; D002835:Christianity; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D012648:Self Care; D012944:Social Support; D013714:Tennessee; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Black/African American; community intervention; diabetes; health disparities; health promotion; lay health advisors/community health workers; patient education; quality assurance/quality improvement