ENCOURAGE: Evaluating Community Peer Advisors and Diabetes Outcomes in Rural Alabama

ENCOURAGE: Evaluating Community Peer Advisors and Diabetes Outcomes in Rural Alabama

It is unclear whether peer coaching is effective in minority populations living with diabetes in hard-to-reach, under resourced areas such as the rural South. We examined the effect of an innovative peer coaching intervention plus brief education vs. brief education alone on diabetes outcomes.

The purpose of this project was to provide robust evidence on the effectiveness of a peer support intervention in improving diabetes outcomes by conducting a group-randomized, controlled implementation trial of a volunteer peer support intervention.

The study had three specific aims:

Aim 1. In Phase I (months 0-8), to perform a qualitative needs assessment with peer advisors and health care providers to inform peer advisor roles and responsibilities (i.e., the intervention) and peer advisor recruitment strategies, curriculum and training; and patient recruitment plans.

Aim 2. Also in Phase I, to pilot our collaboratively developed intervention and, based on pilot test results, to recruit and train peer advisors for the intervention, and begin patient recruitment.

Aim 3. In Phase II (months 9-32), conduct the group randomized implementation trial and evaluate it using the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework.

Inclusion Criteria:

• 19 or older in age, diagnosed with diabetes, under the care of a doctor

Exclusion Criteria:

• not community dwelling, less than 19 years old, pregnant, end-stage medical conditions with limited life expectancy, no access to telephone, does not speak english