Article Text

Healthy Eating and Active Lifestyles for Diabetes (HEAL-D), a culturally tailored self-management education and support program for type 2 diabetes in black-British adults: a randomized controlled feasibility trial
  1. Louise M Goff1,
  2. Carol Rivas2,
  3. Amanda Moore1,
  4. Nicholas Beckley-Hoelscher3,
  5. Fiona Reid3,
  6. Seeromanie Harding1
  1. 1Department of Nutritional Sciences, King’s College London, Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine, London, UK
  2. 2Social Research Institute, University College London, London, UK
  3. 3Population Health, King's College London, Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine, London, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Louise M Goff; louise.goff{at}kcl.ac.uk

Abstract

Introduction Black-British communities are disproportionately affected by type 2 diabetes (T2D). Structured education programs are a core component of T2D healthcare but they are less successful in people from minority ethnic groups. Culturally tailored T2D education has demonstrated greater benefits than usual care. The aim of our study was to evaluate acceptability, fidelity and trial feasibility of the Healthy Eating and Active Lifestyles for Diabetes (‘HEAL-D’) culturally tailored T2D self-management education and support (DSMES) program.

Research design and methods A mixed-methods randomized controlled feasibility trial in black-British adults with T2D was conducted. Participants were assigned to control (usual care) or intervention (HEAL-D; 7 sessions, 14 hours of group-based culturally tailored diet and lifestyle education, behavior change support and supervised physical activity), in a ratio of 1:1. Primary outcomes were recruitment and retention rates, intervention attendance and completion. Fidelity was assessed through observations and qualitative evaluation was undertaken with participants and educators.

Results 102 patients responded to invitation letters (n=1335); 63 were randomized but 8 were subsequently deemed ineligible due to high baseline glycosylated hemoglogin (HbA1c) requiring intensive medical management or missing baseline HbA1c measurement. Of the remaining 55 participants (27 intervention, 28 control), 69% were female, 47% were of African and 51% were of Caribbean ethnicity. 93% completed the trial, providing end point data. Intervention attendance was high; 85% completed the program (attendance at ≥5 sessions), and 74% attended ≥6 sessions. The intervention was delivered with acceptable fidelity, although the qualitative evaluations identified some areas of structure and format in need of refinement.

Conclusions We have shown it is feasible to recruit and randomize black-British adults with T2D to a trial of a culturally tailored DSMES program. We have shown the intervention is highly acceptable for both patients and healthcare providers. A future trial should assess clinical and cost-effectiveness of HEAL-D.

Trial registration number NCT03531177.

  • type 2 diabetes
  • education
  • self-management
  • ethnicity

Data availability statement

Data are available upon reasonable request. Data are available upon request from the corresponding author.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

Data availability statement

Data are available upon reasonable request. Data are available upon request from the corresponding author.

View Full Text

Supplementary materials

  • Supplementary Data

    This web only file has been produced by the BMJ Publishing Group from an electronic file supplied by the author(s) and has not been edited for content.

Footnotes

  • Contributors All authors have made substantial contributions to this study. LMG, CR and SH were responsible for the conception and design of the study. LMG, CR, SH and AM developed the protocol and study approach. LMG and AM undertook data collection. LMG, CR and AM undertook qualitative data analysis. FR and NB-H undertook statistical analysis. LMG drafted the manuscript. All authors read, revised and approved the final manuscript. LMG is guarantor.

  • Funding This report is independent research arising from a Career Development Fellowship (Louise M. Goff, CDF-2015-08-006) supported by the National Institute for Health Research. LMG and AM are supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration South London at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. FR and NB-H are supported by the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre based at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London.

  • Disclaimer The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the National Institute for Health Research or the Department of Health. The funder had no role in the study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation or writing of the report.

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

  • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.