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A community-based intervention targeting diabetes and heart health: Success in southern Mississippi
Background: In 2013, Mississippi (MS) was ranked 50th in the US for overall health. Currently MS is ranked 50th for cardiovascular disease (CVD), and 49th in both diabetes and obesity. Findings from two successful community-based interventions offered in the MS Gulf Coast counties of Hancock, Harrison, and Jackson whose objective was to educate participants on prevention and self-management of CVD and diabetes will be presented.
Methods: Participants were self- or physician-referred to one of two educational interventions. The Diabetes Education (DE) program consisted of a four-hour educational session with a one-hour, one-month, and three-month follow up addressing diabetes physiology, meal planning, exercise, and glucose monitoring. The Healthy Hearts (HH) program consisted of a three-hour session and two one-hour follow-up sessions and addressed risk factors for CVD, target lipid goals, and physical activity. Pre/post-test questionnaires were administered that categorized the participants’ health-related knowledge. Additionally, physiological measures such as weight, hemoglobin A1C (DE) and cholesterol (HH) were taken.
Results: Approximately 80% of clients reported an annual income of $25,000 or less. Among DE clients, 67.74% reduced their hemoglobin A1C from pretest to follow-up. Average A1C reduction was 9.91% and was statistically significant (p<0.05). Participants also significantly increased their exercise participation (p<0.05). HH participants exhibited significant weight loss (p <0.05) and improved HDL cholesterol. Both programs exhibited significant improvements in health-related knowledge.
Conclusion: More community-based interventions targeting low-resource settings that focus on education, prevention and self-management of disease are needed to reduce the health burden of chronic disease in Mississippi.
Learning Areas:
Chronic disease management and preventionPlanning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Public health or related education
Learning Objectives:
Compare the health burden of cardiovascular disease and diabetes in Mississippi to other states in the US.
Identify risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
Identify risk factors for diabetes.
Describe a successful community-based intervention designed to address low health literate populations.
Keyword(s): Community-Based Health, Chronic Disease Management and Care
Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am an assistant professor at the University of Southern Mississippi. I have a PhD from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in Epidemiology. My primary research focus is health disparities. I have published in the area of HIV, chronic disease prevention, and health care capacity. I have formal training in survey development, and program evaluation.
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.