Correlates of Completion for the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program and Tomando Control de su Salud

Chronic disease affects 80% of adults over the age of 65 and is expected to increase in prevalence. Two programs that have been developed to address chronic disease are the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP) and Tomando Control de su Salud (TCDS). Both focus on improving participant self-efficacy, but use different curricula, as TCDS is culturally tailored for the Hispanic population. To achieve the documented benefits of these management programs, it is important for participants to complete them. Little is known about which factors (demographic, baseline health status, and psychosocial) influence program completion. South Florida community agencies offered 108 CDSMP and 82 TCDS workshops between 10/01/2008 - 12/31/2010. Workshops lasted 2.5 hours, and were taught once a week for six weeks. Participants were recruited from the community and an existing client base using advertisements and word of mouth. Participants were defined as completers if they attended at least four of the six workshop sessions. A total of 561 participants from CDSMP and 579 from TCDS were included in analysis. For CDSMP, no correlates of completion were found to be significant. For TCDS, participants who were male (OR=2.3, 95%CI: 1.15-4.66), resided in Broward County (OR=2.3, 95%CI: 1.27-4.25), or living alone (OR=2.0, 95%CI: 1.29-3.08) were nearly twice as likely to attend at least four sessions. Targeting correlates of completion might reduce attrition, resulting in more participants being better able to self-manage their chronic disease. This would lead to improved quality of life and reduced health care costs.