Online Program

282012
Use of an innovative health technology tool for behavior change counseling to prevent diabetes


Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Jennifer M Kolb, BA, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
Ambili Ramachandran, MD, MSc, Section of General Internal Medicine, Boston University/Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA
Jenny J Lin, MD, Division of General Internal Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
Diego Chiluisa, BA, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
Nicole Glazer, PhD, Section of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA
Devin M Mann, MD, MS, Section of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology, Boston University/Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA
Background: Diabetes mellitus (T2DM) affects 25.8 million people in the US; another 79 million adults have prediabetes. New technologies and electronic platforms for enhanced physician counseling can promote behavior modification to delay the progression of prediabetes to T2DM. Objective: To assess whether a technology-assisted goal-setting tool embedded in the electronic health record (EHR) encourages behavior change to reduce T2DM risk among prediabetic patients. Methods: A pilot randomized, controlled study, Avoiding Diabetes Thru Action Plan Targeting (ADAPT), is currently underway to promote action plan discussions between patient and provider for patient-selected behavior change goals and includes web-based personalized feedback to support goal implementation. Primary care providers were randomized to intervention (ADAPT) tool activated when they saw enrolled patients, or control. Baseline data about patients' health and behaviors, including pedometer data, were collected. Results: To date, 46 patients (mean age= 43 years, 79% female, 15% White, 35% Black, 39% Hispanic) and 12 clinicians from two primary care practices have enrolled in the study. Patients' mean baseline BMI was 35.9 (SD=9.3), hemoglobin A1c was 5.9% (SD=0.3), and baseline number of steps/week taken was 6632. 100% of intervention clinicians engaged with and completed the ADAPT tool. All 27 intervention patients created action plans with their providers, and to date, 59% (n=16) successfully implemented their goals on the ADAPT website. Patients reported favorable attitudes about the email reminders and pedometer use for achieving their behavior change goals. Conclusion: ADAPT provides a novel electronic pathway for counseling patients with prediabetes to enact behavior change, and can be disseminated at point of care through EHRs. Preliminary data and initial feasibility testing show successful uptake and implementation by providers and patients. Computer applications and novel technological approaches like ADAPT offer fresh strategies to address public health concerns over the rising rates of diabetes in the US.

Learning Areas:

Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Chronic disease management and prevention
Communication and informatics
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health

Learning Objectives:
Describe the implementation of an Electronic Health Record based tool to improve behavior change counseling among providers. Evaluate if a technology based behavior counseling tool is feasible in a primary care setting. Identify a target group of patients and providers to benefit from this tool.

Keyword(s): Behavior Modification, Information Technology

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been the student investigator involved with the ADAPT research project for this past year. I am responsible for recruitment efforts to enroll patients, data entry, and data analysis. I am interested in the intersection between health care delivery and advanced technologies to improve patient care.
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.