PURPOSE It is unclear whether peer coaching is effective in minority populations living with diabetes in hard-to-reach, under-resourced areas such as the rural South. We examined the effect of an innovative peer-coaching intervention plus brief education vs brief education alone on diabetes outcomes. METHODSThis was a community-engaged, cluster-randomized, controlled trial with primary care practices and their surrounding communities serving as clusters. The trial enrolled 424 participants, with 360 completing baseline and follow-up data collection (84.9% retention). The primary outcomes were change in glycated hemoglobin (HbA 1c ), systolic blood pressure (BP), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), body mass index (BMI), and quality of life, with diabetes distress and patient activation as secondary outcomes. Peer coaches were trained for 2 days in community settings; the training emphasized motivational interviewing skills, diabetes basics, and goal setting. All participants received a 1-hour diabetes education class and a personalized diabetes report card at baseline. Intervention arm participants were also paired with peer coaches; the protocol called for telephone interactions weekly for the first 8 weeks, then monthly for a total of 10 months.RESULTS Due to real-world constraints, follow-up was protracted, and intervention effects varied over time. The analysis that included the 68% of participants followed up by 15 months showed only a significant increase in patient activation in the intervention group. The analysis that included all participants who eventually completed follow-up revealed that intervention arm participants had significant differences in changes in systolic BP (P = .047), BMI (P = .02), quality of life (P = .003), diabetes distress (P = .004), and patient activation (P = .03), but not in HbA 1c (P = .14) or LDL-C (P = .97).CONCLUSION Telephone-delivered peer coaching holds promise to improve health for individuals with diabetes living in under-resourced areas.
BackgroundPsychosocial risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) may be especially deleterious in persons with low socioeconomic status. Most work has focused on psychosocial factors individually, but emerging research suggests that the confluence of psychosocial risk may be particularly harmful. Using data from the Reasons for Geographical and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study, we examined associations among depressive symptoms and stress, alone and in combination, and incident CVD and all‐cause mortality as a function of socioeconomic status.Methods and ResultsAt baseline, 22 658 participants without a history of CVD (58.8% female, 41.7% black, mean age 63.9±9.3 years) reported on depressive symptoms, stress, annual household income, and education. Participants were classified into 1 of 3 psychosocial risk groups at baseline: (1) neither depressive symptoms nor stress, (2) either depressive symptoms or stress, or (3) both depressive symptoms and stress. Cox proportional hazards models were used to predict physician‐adjudicated incident total CVD events (nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, and cardiovascular death) and all‐cause mortality over a median of 7.0 years (interquartile range 5.4–8.3 years) of follow‐up. In fully adjusted models, participants with both depressive symptoms and stress had the greatest elevation in risk of developing total CVD (hazard ratio 1.48, 95% CI 1.21–1.81) and all‐cause mortality (hazard ratio 1.33, 95% CI 1.13–1.56) but only for those with low income (<$35 000) and not high (≥$35 000) income. This pattern of results was not observed in models stratified by education.ConclusionsFindings suggest that screening for a combination of elevated depressive symptoms and stress in low‐income persons may help identify those at increased risk of incident CVD and mortality.
BackgroundFunctional social support has a stronger association with medical treatment adherence than structural social support in several populations and disease conditions. Using a contemporary U.S. population of adults treated with medications for coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factors, the association between social support and medication adherence was examined.MethodsWe included 17,113 black and white men and women with CHD or CHD risk factors aged ≥45 years recruited 2003–2007 from the REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study. Participants reported their perceived social support (structural social support: being partnered, number of close friends, number of close relatives, and number of other adults in household; functional social support: having a caregiver in case of sickness or disability; combination of structural and functional social support: number of close friends or relatives seen at least monthly). Medication adherence was assessed using a 4-item scale. Multi-variable adjusted Poisson regression models were used to calculate prevalence ratios (PR) for the association between social support and medication adherence.ResultsPrevalence of medication adherence was 68.9%. Participants who saw >10 close friends or relatives at least monthly had higher prevalence of medication adherence (PR = 1.06; 95% CI: 1.00, 1.11) than those who saw ≤3 per month. Having a caregiver in case of sickness or disability, being partnered, number of close friends, number of close relatives, and number of other adults in household were not associated with medication adherence after adjusting for covariates.ConclusionsSeeing multiple friends and relatives was associated with better medication adherence among individuals with CHD risk factors. Increasing social support with combined structural and functional components may help support medication adherence.
BackgroundWe investigated the association between income-education groups and incident coronary heart disease (CHD) in a national prospective cohort study.MethodsThe REasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke study recruited 30,239 black and white community-dwelling adults between 2003 and 2007 and collected participant-reported and in-home physiologic variables at baseline, with expert adjudicated CHD endpoints during follow-up. Mutually exclusive income-education groups were: low income (annual household income <$35,000)/low education (< high school), low income/high education, high income/low education, and high income/high education. Cox models estimated hazard ratios (HR) for incident CHD for each exposure group, examining differences by age group.ResultsAt baseline, 24,461 participants free of CHD experienced 809 incident CHD events through December 31, 2011 (median follow-up 6.0 years; interquartile range 4.5–7.3 years). Those with low income/low education had the highest incidence of CHD (10.1 [95 % CI 8.4–12.1]/1000 person-years). After full adjustment, those with low income/low education had higher risk of incident CHD (HR 1.42 [95 % CI: 1.14–1.76]) than those with high income/high education, but findings varied by age. Among those aged <65 years, compared with those reporting high income/high education, risk of incident CHD was significantly higher for those reporting low income/low education and low income/high education (adjusted HR 2.07 [95 % CI 1.42–3.01] and 1.69 [95 % CI 1.30–2.20], respectively). Those aged ≥65 years, risk of incident CHD was similar across income-education groups after full adjustment.ConclusionFor younger individuals, low income, regardless of education, was associated with higher risk of CHD, but not observed for ≥65 years. Findings suggest that for younger participants, education attainment may not overcome the disadvantage conferred by low income in terms of CHD risk, whereas among those ≥65 years, the independent effects of income and education are less pronounced.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) programs have the potential to improve quality of life in individuals with chronic pain and diabetes. Rural communities often lack the infrastructure necessary to implement such programs. CBT traditionally requires trained therapists, who are rarely available in these areas. An alternative may be programs delivered by community health workers (CHWs). We present an iterative developmental approach that combined program adaptation, pretesting, and CHW training processes for a CBT-based diabetes self-care program for individuals living with diabetes and chronic pain. Collaborative intervention refinement, combined with CHW training, is a promising methodology for community-engaged research in remote, underresourced communities.
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