Effectiveness of a Motivational Interview Intervention to Prevent Diabetes in African Americans

Background: About 25.8 million US people have diabetes; 1.9 million adults were diagnosed with 7 million undiagnosed. About 79 million people have pre-diabetes. African Americans have one of the highest diabetes prevalence. Therefore, preventing/delaying diabetes in African Americans who are at risk for diabetes is an important public health goal. Moderate weight loss and exercise can prevent or delay type 2 diabetes among high-risk adults. Methods: Motivational interviewing (MI) intervention used a within subjects repeated measures design with randomized experimental (n=21), usual care (n=16), and attention control (n=17) groups. All groups received the Small Steps Big Rewards National Diabetes Education Program materials to promote nutrition/exercise. The experimental group received MI and the attention control group received health information biweekly for 2 months, monthly for 2 months, and a booster at 9 months. Results: The MI group showed a slight increase in sagittal diameter change but a slight decrease in waist circumference and weight over time, while the other groups showed no change. There was no statistical difference in the amount of weight change between groups, but, the MI and attention control groups showed slight, almost identical decreases In HgA1c over time, while the control group showed a slight increase. Conclusions: Although body measurements showed little differences in the 3 groups over time, HgA1c decreased somewhat over time for the MI and attention control groups with the MI group having the most effect. The mean BMI for the MI group was higher than the other two groups(p=.01 for both).