Research Briefs
Community Health Workers Assisting Patients with Diabetes Self-Management
Hargraves et al. examined the impact of integrating community health workers (CHWs) into community health centers. CHWs were trained for 3 months and assigned to work with patients to increase diabetes self-management and establish linkages to community resources. Patients working with CHWs had a significant increase in self-management goal setting compared to patients in the control group health centers. (J Ambul Care Manage, Jan-March 2012) [Full abstract]
Employing Nonclinical Laypersons to Help Primary Care Teams Manage Chronic Disease
Adair et al. reported that lay persons ("care guides") without previous clinical experience hired to primary care clinics improved patient’s management of diabetes, hypertension and congestive failure. The lay persons were trained for 2 weeks and assigned to help 332 patients for one year. Improvement was seen in tobacco usage, blood pressure control, pneumonia vaccination, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, annual eye examinations, and aspirin use. (J Ambul Care Manage, Jan-March 2012) [Full abstract]
Feasibility of Chronic Disease Patient Navigation in an Urban Primary Care Practice
Battaglia et al. evaluated an intervention that integrated lay health care workers trained in motivational interviewing (MI) into an existing mammography navigation program. Among patients that received MI-based telephone conversations with lay health workers, 94% scheduled, and 73% completed a mammography appointment. The authors concluded incorporating telephone-based chronic disease navigation supported by MI into existing disease-specific navigation is efficacious and acceptable to those enrolled. (J Ambul Care Manage, Jan-March 2012) [Full abstract]
Patient-Mentoring Intervention for outpatient HIV Care
Cully et al. pilot tested a standardized training program for patient-mentoring to increase adherence to outpatient HIV Care. Mentors received training over a 6-week period and required demonstration of adherence and skill. Data from the program provided preliminary evidence that peer mentors can be trained to levels necessary to ensure intervention fidelity, even within moderately complex behavioral-change interventions. (AIDS Patient Care STDS, March 2012) [Full abstract]
Peer Mentoring African American Veterans to Improve Glucose Control
Long and colleagues compared African American veterans with diabetes aged 50 to 70 years old randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups: usual care, a peer mentoring group, and a financial incentives group. Participants in the peer mentoring group showed the most improvement with a reduction in hemoglobin A1c from 9.8% to 8.7% over the 6 month intervention. (Ann Intern Med, March 2012) [Full abstract]
You can obtain a copy of the full article at: http://www.annals.org/content/current
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