Brief, computer-assisted diabetes dietary self-management counseling: effects on behavior, physiologic outcomes, and quality of life

Abstract

Objectives: The objective of this work was to evaluate the reach, effectiveness, adoption, and implementation of a brief behavioral dietary intervention and 2 supplemental components of diabetes self-management support: telephone follow-up calls and community resources enhancement.

Design and subjects: This was a 2 x 2 randomized, controlled trial investigating the incremental effects of telephone follow-up and community resources enhancement with 320 adult type 2 diabetes outpatients. METHODS. Key outcomes included behavioral (dietary patterns, fat intake), physiologic (HbA1c, lipids), and quality-of-life/patient satisfaction measures and were collected at baseline and 3- and 6-month follow-up.

Results: Despite high reach (76% patient participation), excellent adoption (all 12 primary care practices approached participated), and good implementation, there were few outcome differences among treatment conditions. There was significant improvement across conditions in most outcomes in each category at both follow-ups.

Conclusions: A brief, computer-assisted, dietary goal-setting intervention basic treatment condition was moderately successful in producing dietary improvements but less so in producing biologic or quality-of-life outcomes. Additions of follow-up phone calls or a community resources enhancement component did not produce incremental improvements over this basic intervention.