Diabetes Prevention Project - Telephone Support Follow-Up Study
Results from the Diabetes Prevention Project (DPP) provide evidence that a type 2 diabetes prevention program using lifestyle intervention is feasible in primary health care settings, with reductions in risk factors approaching those observed in clinical trials. This follow up study aims to address the problem of evaporation of risk reduction over time through a facilitated telephone support program for long-term maintenance of lifestyle changes made by people at high risk of type 2 diabetes. The model can be adapted by practice nurses, physiotherapists, diabetes educators and others involved in public health activities. The project is currently being conducted in the Greater Green Triangle region where the prevalence of type 2 diabetes is among the highest in Australia.While we already know that people participating in this DPP show significant improvement, we recognise that sustaining the lifestyle changes is harder in the longer term. The follow up study aims to maintain the health benefits for people who have completed a DPP by testing the effectiveness of a simple support intervention to aid self-management that uses a telephone intervention designed to maintain the lifestyle changes in diet and physical activity.
The use of telephone support has already been shown to be effective in enabling people with heart disease to achieve secondary prevention goals. Research on telephone-assisted counselling has established its effectiveness in promoting long-term physical activity change in adult populations.
The telephone counselling contains a range of evidence-based techniques, including cognitive, behavioural and solution-focused counselling and motivational interviewing. The counselling calls are conducted from the GGT UDRH by staff trained specially for this project and supervised by a clinical health psychologist with experience in the area of chronic disease management and diabetes intervention programs.
The outcomes of primary interest are the biochemical and physical measurements (weight, waist circumference, blood pressure, total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, triglycerides, fasting glucose, and oral glucose tolerance test) at 18 months after the original 12-month intervention, as well as adherence to self-care management guidelines, including diet and physical activity recommendations. A secondary analysis will examine differences between intervention (self-care guidelines + telephone counselling) and control (self-care guidelines only) groups on emotional health and self-efficacy measures.
The project is funded by the Ubergang Foundation and the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.