West Virginia has some of the highest rates of diabetes and hypertension in the United States. Self-management of these two chronic conditions is essential for good quality of life and to lower complications. The Diabetes and Hypertension Self-Management program is a 12-week community-based program that has been done in Morgantown, Charleston, and Buckhannon for adults with comorbid diabetes and hypertension.
The DHSMP is adapted from two evidence-based programs (i.e., the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) and AADE-7 self-care behaviors), and tailored for West Virginians. Participants are assigned to trained Health Coaches that communicate with them to provide continuous feedback and reinforcement. We use a randomized controlled trial (RCT) design to compare the groups assigned to either the 12-week DHSMP or or short program (3-4 hour session; include all handouts; control) group.
This program builds on prior successful community-based lifestyle intervention studies in rural Appalachia and rural India. We hope to see improvements in diabetes self-care, and reductions in HbA1c and blood pressure. All blood tests will be provided FREE to the participants at baseline and post-program evaluation.
This project is approved by the WVU ethics committee and will follow all guidelines for participant confidentiality. For more information, please contact:
Dr. Ranjita Misra, 304-293-4168 or email: ramisra@hsc.wvu.edu