690-P: Building a Healthy Temple: A Faith-Based Diabetes Self-Management Support Program

Abstract

Background and Objective: Type 2 diabetes disproportionally affects Hispanics. Diabetes self-management is key to preventing its life threating complications. Most Hispanics affiliate with churches, presenting a promising venue for delivering diabetes self-management support (DSMS) program. “Faith-placed” (FP) programing refers to health intervention implemented in church setting; while "faith-based" (FB) signifies integrating spirituality with health interventions. Building a Healthy Temple DSMS Program integrates spirituality with DSMS to improve diabetic outcomes. Setting and Subjects: Predominantly Hispanic churches in Texas; Diabetic churchgoers. Methods: This 13-week cluster-RCT assigned 18 churches to: 1) FB Group receiving a Health Sermon, 6-session DSMS, and 6-session Healthy Bible Study delivered by trained church lay leaders; or 2) FP Group receiving 6-session DSMS accompanied by a 7-session partial attention control curriculum delivered by outside professionals. Key outcome measures included HbA1c, BMI, waist circumference (WC), DSM Self-efficacy and diabetes quality of life (DQL) using the Problem Areas in Diabetes Scale (PAID). Data are collected at baseline, 6, 9, and 12 months. Intervention effects were determined using Linear mixed-effect models, controlled for age, gender and baseline corresponding outcome measures. Preliminary Results: To date, 3 FP (n=48) and 3 FB churches (n=49) have delivered interventions and collected 9 month data. Post intervention, the FB Group appears to have a lower HbA1c than the FP Group (6.56 vs. 6.79; p=0.095). Single-group sub-analyses showed that only the FB Group sustained a 4% HbA1c reduction at 9 months (p<0.05), and a 16% increase in DSM Self-efficacy scores at 6 and 9 months (p<0.05). Compared to baseline, both groups significantly reduced WC and PAID scores (i.e., improved DQL) at 6 and 9 months. Conclusions: Integrating spirituality with DSMS could lead to improved diabetes outcomes among Hispanic diabetic churchgoers. Disclosure S.R. Wilmoth: None. L. Carrillo: None. M. Pan: None. D. Chavarria: None. B. Wilhite: None. D. Parra-Medina: None. M. He: None. Funding American Diabetes Association (1-17-ICTS-029 to M.H.)