ENCOURAGE: Evaluating Community Peer Advisors and Diabetes Outcomes in Rural Alabama

Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Diabetes Mellitus

Treatments: Behavioral: ENCOURAGE Study

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02460718

T0808270039

Details and patient eligibility

About

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.

Full description

The purpose of this project was to provide robust evidence on the effectiveness of a peer support intervention in improving diabetes outcomes by conducting a group-randomized, controlled implementation trial of a volunteer peer support intervention.

The study had three specific aims:

Aim 1. In Phase I (months 0-8), to perform a qualitative needs assessment with peer advisors and health care providers to inform peer advisor roles and responsibilities (i.e., the intervention) and peer advisor recruitment strategies, curriculum and training; and patient recruitment plans.

Aim 2. Also in Phase I, to pilot our collaboratively developed intervention and, based on pilot test results, to recruit and train peer advisors for the intervention, and begin patient recruitment.

Aim 3. In Phase II (months 9-32), conduct the group randomized implementation trial and evaluate it using the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework.

Enrollment: 424 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 19+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• 19 or older in age, diagnosed with diabetes, under the care of a doctor

Exclusion criteria

• not community dwelling, less than 19 years old, pregnant, end-stage medical conditions with limited life expectancy, no access to telephone, does not speak english

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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424 participants in 2 patient groups

control group

No Intervention group

Description:

Participants received 1-hour group diabetes education class covering diabetes basics, healthy eating, stress reduction, physical activity, social support, and how to get the most out of their doctors visit. Participants also received a diabetes report card showing their Hba1c, blood pressure, ldl cholesterol, and body weight.

Encourage study

Experimental group

Description:

Participants in the intervention arm were paired with a peer coach, interacting by telephone weekly for the first 8 weeks and then monthly for a total of 10 months. Participants also received 1-hour group diabetes education class covering diabetes basics, healthy eating, stress reduction, physical activity, social support, and how to get the most out of their doctors visit. Participants also received a diabetes report card showing their Hba1c, blood pressure, ldl cholesterol, and body weight.

Treatment:

Behavioral: ENCOURAGE Study