242620 Use of Low-literacy Diabetes Education Kiosks For Addressing Diabetes Health Disparities

Monday, October 31, 2011

Jane N. Bolin, PhD, JD, RN , Health Policy & Management, Texas A&M HSC School of Rural Public Health, College Station, TX
Marcia G. Ory, PhD, MPH , Social & Behavioral Health, Texas A&M HSC School of Rural Public Health, College Station, TX
Ashley Wilson, MPH , School of Rural Public Health, College Station, TX
  
Research Objective: Persons with type 2 diabetes often do not have access to diabetes self-management education. The purpose of this study was to evaluate and assess the feasibility of touch-screen, computer-based diabetes self-management education kiosks (Diosk©) in low income settings for the purpose of providing needed education in managing diabetes in both English and Spanish. The goals of the study are to improve availability of diabetes self-management education and delay diabetes complications through accessible diabetes education tools. Population Studied: Study population is 60% Hispanic and 42.9% speak other than English in their home. Prevalence of diagnosed diabetes is 14.5%. Principal findings: Usage data tracked through the Diosk© software and collected through surveys for seven months. The Diosk© was used over 4,000 times since implementation in March 2010. Users are predominantly female (68.5%), aged 36-49 years, (40.1%) of Hispanic/Latino origin (71.8%), and diagnosed with diabetes (48.9%). The combined usage at all of the pilot sites shows that users utilized the Diosk© for over 340 hours and made over 4,000 print requests. Usage trends show an average of 4.94 minutes per session when viewing the educational modules. The five most popular modules for all sites are: Kids Corner (801 views); Meal Planning (658); Healthy Recipes (607); Diabetes Complications (592) and, What is Diabetes? (475). A majority of users (85%) indicated that they plan to make lifestyle changes including exercise and change in diet. Conclusions: The Diosk© serves as a valuable and easily accessible diabetes education tool in a low income population, supplementing care received from health care providers. Users particularly value healthy recipes and advice for lifestyle change in order to manage diabetes better. The high utilization during the pilot study suggests a need and desire for interactive sources of diabetes education in low income communities.

Learning Areas:
Chronic disease management and prevention
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs

Learning Objectives:
Evaluate and Describe how Diabetes Education Kiosks improve the availability of diabetes self-management education and training, Evaluate and Describe how Diabetes Education Kiosks improve sustainability of users’ ability to self-manage diabetes, and decrease or delay diabetes complications through readily accessible diabetes education tools.

Keywords: Diabetes, Literacy

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: Dr. Jane Nelson Bolin the Principal Investigator on the Diabetes Education Kiosk StudyCo-PI for the CST*R Institute, in her current position as Director of the Southwest Rural Health Research Center and as Co-PI on the NIH funded CTSA P-20 Strategic Planning grant planning the establishment of the Clinical Translational Science and Research Institute (CST*R). Dr. Bolin has also served as PI or Co-PI on several related diabetes or chronic disease evaluation studies, as PI on a cost-effectiveness analysis grant for the State of Missouri. and has served as PI or Co-PI on numerous other grants involving chronic disease management. Dr. Bolin received her BSN degree from the Oregon Health Sciences University (1978) and, after nursing school, worked for 3 years in an ICU-CCU in Eugene, Oregon. Dr. Bolin graduated from the University of Oregon law school in 1982 and practiced law for 15 years in health-care related law. While Dr. Bolin’s primary academic and teaching focus is in the area of health law, ethics, and health regulations, Dr. Bolin also has applied academic and research experience in minority health disparities and the problem of chronic diseases as they affect rural and minority (underserved) populations. Dr. Bolin is currently Co-PI on an NIH-NCMHD P-20 grant entitled Employing Diabetes Self-Management Models to Reduce Health Disparities in Texas, a five-year NIH grant funded in October 2007.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: The Use of Consumer Health Informatics in Health Education, Dissemination, Interventions and Disease Management
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