Effectiveness of a community-based model in improving diabetes care among underserved Latinos

Diabetes prevalence among Latinos ranges from 10-19%, compared to 7% among non-Latino whites, and disease-specific mortality is 1.5 times greater than that for non-Latino whites. We present data from a culturally tailored, interactive and linguistically appropriate community-based pilot intervention among immigrant Latinos who are at high risk for diabetes complications due to language barriers and limited medical access. Latinos with diabetes (n=127) were recruited from a local federally qualified health clinic (FQHC) in New Jersey. They were provided with five educational sessions modeled after national standards for diabetes self-management education to increase diabetes-risk knowledge, self-care behaviors, medication adherence, diet modification, and physical activity. Study participants completed self-administered questionnaires (or were read questionnaires if they had low literacy) and were assessed for weight, body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, and blood pressure at baseline and follow-up visits. To further determine the effectiveness of our community-based diabetes education model, we compare clinical measures for our study population with Latinos receiving usual care at the FQHC. Preliminary analyses indicate that 78% of all recruited participants completed the educational sessions, and 47% came for at least one follow up visit to receive additional reinforcement for diabetes self-care. Pre-post change in study outcomes will be presented through descriptive, bivariate and mixed model analyses. We discuss the need for clinical services to consider a population-level approach to care by integrating evidence-based, culturally sensitive, community-based education approaches to reach populations at high risk of developing diabetes-related complications.