Computer Assisted Support for Underserved Diabetics

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Sixteen million Americans suffer from diabetes. Prevalence of diabetes is especially high among Hispanic adults. Helping patients control their diabetes can decrease complications, improve quality of life, and decrease costs of care. Nutrition and exercise to achieve a healthy weight are key behavioral interventions in diabetes management. However, clinic-based weight management programs are inexpensive, difficult to deliver on a population-basis and are not typically structured to meet the unique needs of medically underserved Hispanic populations. The goal of this proposal is to develop a practical and easily delivered intervention for weight management to address the special needs of low-income Hispanic diabetics. The intervention will utilize a computer-based software program tp tailor the intervention to the unique needs of each patient. Evidence-based behavioral models that hold promise for helping individuals make changes to better manage body weight will be applied. This system is designed to operate on clinic-based personal computers and will providing individual assessment and tailored, real-time and feedback reports to patients and caregiver reports outlining key areas for patient improvement and counseling suggestions for practitioners. In Phase I we will develop the software program and evaluate system acceptability using a pre-post design in a single group of subjects (N=50). PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: Effective low-cost population based weight management interventions provide important quality of life and financial benefits. Medical providers are increasingly looking for ways to provide high quality care at lower costs-especially for patients with chronic diseases. Community health centers, hospitals and MCOs, have significant incentives to better manage the costs of care. This system is designed to be produced at a low cost and should have a significant commercial market among the 1,000+ health care organizations now participating in capitated care.