Purpose: This paper describes a clinic- and community-based diabetes intervention program designed to improve dietary, physical activity, and self-care behaviors of older African American women with type 2 diabetes. It also describes the study to evaluate this program and baseline characteristics of participants.
Methods: The New Leaf ... Choices for Healthy Living With Diabetes program consists of 4 clinic-based health counselor visits, a community intervention with 12 monthly phone calls from peer counselors, and 3 group sessions. A randomized, controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of this intervention is described.
Results: Seventeen focus groups of African American women were used to assessed the cultural relevance/acceptability of the intervention and measurement instruments. For the randomized trial, 200 African American women with type 2 diabetes were recruited from 7 practices in central North Carolina. Mean age was 59, mean diabetes duration was 10 years, and participants were markedly overweight and physically inactive.
Conclusions: Participants found this program to be culturally relevant and acceptable. Its effects on diet, physical activity, and self-care behaviors will be assessed in a randomized trial.