Grants and Contracts Details
Description
Diabetes Reversal Outcomes Program (DROP): An Intervention Tailored for Rural Communities
Approximately 34.2 million adults in the US have type 2 diabetes (T2DM). The prevalence of T2DM is
17% higher in rural dwellers compared to their urban counterparts. As of 2018, Kentucky ranks 7th in
diabetes with a rate of 13.8%, and Kentucky ranks 5th in obesity with a rate of 36.6%, which is a major
contributing risk factor for T2DM. Furthermore, appropriate self-care is necessary for optimal clinical
outcomes in T2DM and variability in self-care accounts for 90% of the variance in glycemic control. Yet,
T2DM self-care is consistently poor in general. Rural dwellers are exposed to challenging social
environment factors, including high rates of poverty, limited access to needed healthcare services, limited
access to healthy foods, and social support that may not promote beneficial decision-making, which are
barriers to self-care and optimal clinical outcomes.
In an effort to address challenges faced by rural dwellers who are currently living with T2DM, the 6-week
Reversing Diabetes Program was developed. This program was originally developed to accommodate the
unique limitations and address the recidivism rate observed in the private patient programs to address
T2DM management for residents of Grundy County, Tennessee. The goal of the program is to empower
participants with the knowledge necessary to make wise decisions regarding their health at a low financial
cost. Participants are encouraged to adapt the lessons to their unique financial and temporal situations,
allowing them to make health changes that are personally sustainable and feasible. What is also unique
about this program is that it is open to those in the community who are prediabetic in an effort to address
T2DM-related risk factors, including obesity.
The challenges faced by those in Grundy County are very similar to those in Appalachia Kentucky. Thus,
the purpose of the proposed pilot study is to collect data on the preliminary feasibility of the Diabetes
Reversal Program when administered in rural Kentucky. Though the program has been administered in 17
states, there has not been any objective data collected to determine the program’s effectiveness besides
anecdotal accounts of improvements in clinical and lifestyle changes by participants. To efficiently collect
the needed data, it is proposed that the services of the Vanderbilt Diet, Body Composition, and Metabolism
Core be enlisted to collect food intake, body composition, and glycemic control data. Data will be collected
at baseline and at 3,6, and 12 months post-program.
Status | Finished |
---|---|
Effective start/end date | 9/1/20 → 8/31/22 |
Funding
- Vanderbilt University Medical Center: $76,500.00
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