Program Reinforcement Impacts Self Management

As the diabetes burden worsens, the need for people to become more involved in self-management will increase. Research has demonstrated that diabetes self-management education (DSME) can improve HbA1C levels by 0.76%. While the rates of diabetes are increasing, the numbers of educators available are shrinking. This is a particular hardship in underserved and military communities where the supply of health care providers is already scarce. Our investigative team has led efforts in supporting DSME in the PA state-wide deployment of the Chronic Care Model (CCM) and reported findings nationally on innovative ways to increase the pool of education services by integrating educators into primary care, establishing nurse clinics in underserved communities and demonstrating that an educator position could be sustained by reimbursement. A 0.76% reduction associated to DSME can be considered an enormous benefit and is equivalent to the impact of most pharmacologic treatments for diabetes. Unfortunately, however the benefits of DSME decrease over time. This suggests that sustained improvements require contact and follow-up. SMS is defined as the process of ongoing support of patient self-care, to sustain the gains following DSME. There is often confusion among the terms self-management education (DSME) and self-management support (SMS). DSME is associated with the provision of knowledge and skills training delivered by a health care professional, e.g. nurses, dietitians, etc. SMS is defined as the process of making and refining changes in health care systems (and the community) to support patient self-care and maintain the gains made following DSME. We know that SMS is currently provided by diabetes educators, but only one 3-6 month follow up is usual care. It has been suggested that SMS can be provided by community workers, peers with diabetes, and office staff within community sites, like PCP offices, and wellness centers, etc. The National Standards for DSME and American Diabetes Association (ADA) Education Recognition Program (ERP) require that SMS approaches be delivered and documented, yet no evidence has been provided to define who should deliver it and how often. This uncertainty has led to many programs delivering SMS in an unstructured, non-standardized and at times haphazard fashion. Practical approaches designed for providing SMS have the potential to sustain improvements. The objective of this study is to compare Self-Management Support (SMS) interventions following Diabetes Self-Management Education (DSME) and determine which will be more likely to maintain improvements in behavioral and clinical outcomes following DSME while achieving patient satisfaction.