Abstract
Brief, cost-effective interventions to promote diabetes self-management are needed. This study evaluated the effects of a brief, regular, proactive, telephone “coaching” intervention delivered by paraprofessionals on diabetes adherence, glycemic control, diabetes-related medical symptoms, and depressive symptoms. Therapeutic mechanisms underlying the intervention’s effect on the primary outcomes were also examined. Adults diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (N = 62) were randomly assigned to receive the “coaching” intervention and treatment as usual, or only treatment as usual. The intervention increased frequency of exercise and feet inspection, improved diet, reduced diabetes medical symptoms, and lowered depressive symptoms. Self-efficacy, reinforcement, and awareness of self-care goals mediated the treatment effect on depression, exercise, and feet inspection, respectively. A brief telephone intervention delivered by paraprofessionals had positive effects on type 2 diabetes patients.
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Notes
The lipid requirements for the present study represent relatively low thresholds. For example, approximately half of all adults have cholesterol levels above 200.
The number of participants completing the social support (n = 31) and reinforcement received (n = 28) was lower than the study N because initial versions of these measures did not adequately direct participants to reflect on support and reinforcement received from their healthcare team. Only responses to the corrected versions were included in analyses of these variables.
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Acknowledgments
This research was supported, in part, by an Award from the American Heart Association. The authors acknowledge the following individuals who served as coaches for this study: Amanda Magee, Laura Cardona, Rebecca Mathew, Barbara Houser, Kristin Phillips, Patricia Steiner, Claudia Gerard, Ariz Rojas, Antoniette Maldonado, Nicole Bower, and Tenille Valdivia.
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Preliminary results from this study were previously presented (Friedman et al. 2003).
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Sacco, W.P., Malone, J.I., Morrison, A.D. et al. Effect of a brief, regular telephone intervention by paraprofessionals for type 2 diabetes. J Behav Med 32, 349–359 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-009-9209-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-009-9209-4