Diabetes Sisters: A Grassroots Movement Driven by a Community of Peers
Founded in 2008, Diabetes Sisters is a nonprofit started by Brandy Barnes to offer education and support services for women of all ages with all types of diabetes. Diabetes Sisters recognizes the importance of emotional and peer support for women with diabetes, especially during important life stages such as puberty, pregnancy, and menopause. [Read More] 
 

National Diabetes Education Program Resources
Over the past 15 years, the National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP) and its partners have worked together to change the way diabetes is treated in every sector of society. The NDEP offers an extensive collection of tailored media messages, educational materials in multiple languages, and community outreach tools for professionals and community health workers to use. [Read More] 

UCSF Health Coach Training Curriculum
This diabetes health coach training curriculum was developed by Dr. Bodenheimer and colleagues at the University of California at San Francisco. This curriculum was used to train peer health coaches for a randomized control trial. Articles published from this study may be found in the Research Briefs section. [Read More] 

 
Online Diabetes Communities: Diabetic Connect and TuDiabetes

Online communities and social media offer unique opportunities for people with diabetes to learn from and support each other. Diabetic Connect and TuDiabetes are two established online communities that may be helpful for those with diabetes and the people that support them.

Research Briefs 

Impact of Peer Health Coaching on Glycemic Control in Low-Income Patients with Diabetes: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Thom and colleagues conducted a randomized controlled trial to test whether clinic-based peer health coaching, compared with usual care, improves glycemic control for low-income patients who have poorly controlled diabetes. At 6 months, HbA1C levels had decreased by 1.07% in the coached group and 0.3% in the usual care group, a difference of 0.77% in favor of coaching. HbA1C levels decreased 1.0% or more in 49.6% of coached patients vs 31.5% of usual care patients. [Full Abstract] 

Peer Coaching to Improve Diabetes Self-Management: Which Patients Benefit Most?     
Moskowitz and colleagues conducted a secondary analysis on a randomized control trial of 299 patients with diabetes to examine whether the association between study group and change in A1c was modified by differences in patients' demographic, behavioral or psychosocial characteristics. Peer health coaching had a larger effect on lowering A1c in patients with low levels of medication adherence and self-management support than in patients with higher levels. [Full Abstract] 

 
Testing a Peer Support Intervention for People with Type 2 Diabetes: A Pilot for a Randomized Controlled Trial

Simmons and colleagues describe a 2 month pilot study of different peer support interventions for people with Type 2 diabetes. The intervention was informed by formative evaluation. Participants were randomized by clinical practice to receive individual, group, combined (both individual and group) or no peer support. Key issues identified were the need to recruit peer supporters directly rather than through clinicians, to address participant diabetes educational needs early and the potential for group sessions to have lower participation rates than 1:1 sessions. [Full Abstract]

Social Isolation, Loneliness, and All-Cause Mortality in Older Men and Women
Steptoe and colleagues assessed the extent to which the association between social isolation and mortality is mediated by loneliness in older adults. Both social isolation and loneliness were associated with increased mortality. However, the effect of loneliness was not independent of demographic characteristics or health problems and did not contribute to the risk associated with social isolation. Although both isolation and loneliness impair quality of life and well-being, efforts to reduce isolation are likely to be more relevant to mortality. [Full Abstract]  

Diabetes Sisters Program Spotlight

National Diabetes Education Program Resources

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