Workshop characteristics related to chronic disease self-management education program attendance.

Matthew Lee Smith,Sangnam Ahn,Kristie P Kulinski,Luohua Jiang,Kate Lorig,Marcia G Ory

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2015.00019

Abstract

Using the national dissemination of Chronic Disease Self-Management Education (CDSME) programs, the purposes of this study were to (1) document intervention attendance rates as related to the number of participants enrolled in the workshop and (2) compare the relationship between workshop attendance and workshop size by delivery site rurality and type. Data were analyzed from the first 100,000 middle-aged and older adults who participated in CDSME workshops spanning 45 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Communities Putting Prevention to Work: Chronic Disease Self-Management Program initiative. Descriptive statistics are reported for all participants, then separately by each delivery site type. Ratios between the number of workshop participants and the number of workshop sessions attended were calculated and graphed based on the rurality of delivery and separately for the leading five delivery site types. Associations between the number of workshop participants and the number of sessions attended differed by delivery site rurality and type. Findings have implications for participant retention and workshop delivery costs, which can assist program deliverers to strategically plan implementation efforts in their areas.

Highlights

The recent movement toward evidence-based public health calls for a better understanding of the implementation and dissemination of evidence-based programs (EBP) for older adults delivered in real world settings [1,2,3,4]
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION The Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP) has been introduced and widely disseminated in the U.S as a method to empower patients with self-management skills to deal with their chronic conditions [19]
DATA SOURCE AND STUDY POPULATION Cross-sectional data for this study were obtained from a nationwide delivery of Chronic Disease Self-Management Education (CDSME) programs as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (i.e., ARRA) Communities Putting Prevention to Work: Chronic Disease Self-Management Program initiative [15]

Summary

Introduction

The recent movement toward evidence-based public health calls for a better understanding of the implementation and dissemination of evidence-based programs (EBP) for older adults delivered in real world settings [1,2,3,4]. EBP are interventions based on research that were tested in clinical trials and translated into community-based models, which receive the same intended health benefits [5]. Implementation features must be considered, which include having a well-defined program structure and timeframe that enables the developers to track fidelity and others to uniformly deliver the program with replicable findings [7]. Program developers often draw upon small group literature and adult learning principles to define the ideal class size for intervention [8,9,10], which is often 12–16 participants [11]. Secondary concerns often revolve around cost implications of different class sizes in intervention studies because per-participant costs are influenced by the total number of participants enrolled in workshops [12, 13]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion