Diabetes Self-Management Models to Reduce Health Disparities

To evaluate the effectiveness of two different diabetes self-management approaches (Personal Digital Assistant-based intervention & Chronic Disease Self-Management Program) to reduce health disparities in minority, rural residents, and other underserved populations with type 2 diabetes in Central Texas. We hypothesise that: 1) Racial/ethnic minority patients with T2DM will be found to experience disparities in diabetes self-management treatment protocols and clinical outcomes, which persist even when controlling for age, gender, obesity, and insurance status; 2) Patients with T2DM who reside in more rural areas will be found to experience disparities in diabetes self-management treatment protocols and clinical outcomes as compared to more urban counterparts, controlling for age, gender, race/ethnicity, obesity, and insurance status; 3) The introduction of CSDMP and HIT protocols will improve diabetes-related self management behaviors, reduce HBA1c values, and increase quality of life in persons with T2DM as compared to controls. A combined intervention approach will result in the greatest reductions; 4) Health improvements following the introduction of CDSMP, HIT or CDSMP/HIT protocols in persons with T2DM compared to controls will be more marked in racial/ethnic minority patients and those patients residing in rural areas; 5) The introduction of self-management interventions will be cost-effective in reducing HbA1c values over time, and associated health care utilization including overall reduction in ER and acute care hospital admissions; 6) Although there is little prior research in this area to guide specific hypotheses, we hypothesize that, overall, there will be no significant cost-effective differential in CDSMP as compared to HIT approaches, although the cost-effective ratio may be stronger in particular subpopulations. The combined approach will have higher costs, but is also anticipated to have a higher cost-benefit ratio for minority populations; 7) The majority of clinicians will be willing to let their patients enroll in the study and will reinforce intervention protocols; and 8) These interventions can be embedded into existing health care structures. At the end of the study, Scott and White will institutionalize cost-effective treatment protocols.