n 2015, the International Diabetes Federation estimated that there were nearly 110 million diabetes mellitus (DM) patients in China, which was the highest number recorded in the world. China's DM-related costs, ranked second highest globally, were estimated to be US$51 billion. In response to the rising patient numbers and costs, the Chinese government has invested heavily in primary healthcare since 2009, with the goal of improving chronic disease management in the primary care settings. A key part of the primary care improvement program prioritizes health education as a route to lifestyle modification. Although the content and modes of delivery vary enormously, most of the programs focused on providing information rather than facilitating patient change. The impacts of traditional patient education on lifestyle modification and changes in psychological status have been reported to be suboptimal. These may be related to the poor understanding of the educational content or lack of means for making changes as a result of low socioeconomic status and poor educational level. It is therefore necessary to rethink and explore a more structured, patient-centered approach to health education at improving the outcomes of DM control.

Motivational interviewing (MI) is a collaborative, patient-centered counseling approach that aims to elicit behavior change. Counselors use empathy and other techniques to create an atmosphere to help patients to explore the discrepancies between the goals and their current behavior. The focus of MI is to find and resolve the ambivalence, improve patients' perception of the importance of behavior change, and support them to make the change. MI provides a structural framework with guiding principles that can be easily followed by the primary care doctors. Some studies show that MI can contribute to improve healthy eating, weight control and increases in physical activity, but most research focused on intermediate outcome measures and did not evaluate the readiness to change. MI can be utilized by a variety of healthcare providers, which makes it adaptable for different culture and clinical settings. However, the effectiveness of MI in Chinese diabetic patients remains uncertain.

MI has been delivered using different methods. These methods have varied and included a single one-to-one session with a therapist, multiple group sessions, and the incorporation of MI into daily clinical practice. Furthermore, in yet another study, MI education program produced a significantly greater change in patients' perceived competence in dealing with diabetes than the control group. In this study, the investigators adopted the group MI approach and developed a patient empowerment program (PEP) utilizing the techniques and framework of MI. The investigators compared this to the most common form of DM education in China, i.e., when health professionals (nurses, doctors, dietitians or pharmacists) give a lecture on DM to patients and their carers in a hospital lecture theatre in a didactic manner.

Background: To assess the effects of a motivational interviewing (MI)-based patient empowerment program (PEP) on type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) patient self-management compared to traditional diabetes health education.

Methods: Two hundred and twenty-five patients, recruited from community health centers (CHCs) and the family medicine clinic in the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital in Shenzhen, were randomly assigned to the intervention or control groups. Patients in the intervention group (n=117) received a four-session PEP in small groups over one month by trained nurses and doctors. The control group (n=108) received the traditional lecture-style health education on DM. All the patients were followed up for three months. Outcomes included problem areas in diabetes (PAID) that measures diabetes-related emotional distress, patient enablement index (PEI), mental health, patient satisfaction respectively as well as lifestyle behaviors were assessed at baseline, post-activity and three months.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Type 2 diabetes with HbA1c between 7-10%, 18-75 years old

Exclusion Criteria:

• Known severe comorbidities or complications, such as cancer, unstable angina, frequent exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or diabetic retinopathy, Illiterate or not cognitively competent enough to understand written and the oral expression of the language native to the study site.

Upon receiving a participant's consent form, the independent administrative research assistant would generate a random number by computer to determine allocation to the intervention or control group. For concealment purposes, there was no medical information relating to the participant on the consent form. The assistant only informed participants of their attendance time and not of their grouping. We used the blocked randomization by number "8" which guaranteed that there were four people in both groups in each of the eight people. This method can avoid overbalance between two groups as there might be some people missing halfway.