Objectives:
- To map the demographic, cognitive and psychological variables among participants in diabetes education groups.
- To examine the associations between these variables and health outcomes among participants
- To build a model that will serve as a tool for the recruitment of future participants.
Working hypothesis:
Health outcomes among participants in diabetes education groups are dependant upon demographic, cognitive and psychological traits that can be measured prior to the intervention and used as a tool to recruit participants that will have the best outcomes.
Methodology:
This is a prospective intervention study using staged randomization.
Diabetics enrolling in education groups will be allocated interventions in a staged manner, at 3 month intervals. At enrollment demographic data and data regarding attitudes, knowledge and health behaviors will be collected using validated questionnaires.
Physiological variables will be obtained from routinely collected Maccabi databases. Data collection will be repeated at the end of the intervention, and 6 months after this date. Qualitative data collection methods will be used to enrich our understanding of the intervention process.
These data will be used to identify variables related to positive health outcomes among participants, and a model will be built based on these findings.
Significance of the proposed research:
Intervention groups are routinely used to change health behaviors in general and diabetes management specifically. The impact of the interventions on health has not been clearly established, although there are several studies that demonstrate positive outcomes for diabetic patients.
There is a need for scientific research that examines the degree of effectiveness of this type of intervention in relation to participant attributes. This will lead to an effective selection process for future intervention groups, and the use of alternative methods for those who will not benefit from group intervention. |