Introduction & Objective: Diabetes self-management education and support (DSMES) decreases risk of diabetes-related complications and improves quality of life. To empower and equip people with pre-diabetes and diabetes (PWD) with self-management skills in an engaging setting, our team implemented one-day in-person DSMES retreats. The purpose of this study is to characterize those who participated in the retreats at baseline to understand how to improve and expand the reach of the retreat.
Methods: Participants attended hands-on educational and therapeutic sessions on the ADCES7 self-care behaviors led by an interdisciplinary diabetes care team. Recruitment reached over 700 PWD through targeted emails, Facebook, and men's health clinic. Participants were invited to complete optional demographic, clinical and dietary pre- and post-surveys. Inclusion criteria for analysis were consent to the research surveys and complete pre-retreat data.
Results: Of N=68 participants most were White (70.1%), non-Hispanic (96.8%), female (88.1%) and middle-aged (mean 60.09 ±10.11 years old). Many were on private employer-sponsored insurance (57.6%) or Medicare (36.4%). The household income levels varied, with many participants earning between $31-60,000 (32.8%), $61-90,000 (23.4%), or $120,000+ (23.4%). At baseline, there were low levels of interpersonal and physician-related distress yet moderate levels of medication regimen-related distress on the Diabetes Distress Scale (mean score 1.60 ± 0.91 vs 1.70 ± 0.98 vs 2.15 ± 1.19).
Conclusion: The results indicate that female middle-aged adults with varying forms of insurance and income levels and moderate levels of diabetes regimen distress engaged in the retreat despite wide recruitment efforts. Future directions include 6, 12 and 24-month follow-ups on diabetes distress, metabolic outcomes, self-management behaviors, Facebook group engagement, and improving the retreat content and structure to engage diverse populations better.
D. Johnson: None. J.E. Blanchette: Speaker's Bureau; Insulet Corporation. Board Member; Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). Research Support; American Heart Association, Association of Diabetes Care & Education Specialists, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. Advisory Panel; LifeScan Diabetes Institute. Consultant; WellDoc. Advisory Panel; Cardinal Health/Edgepark. O. Yamoah: None. N.J. Bellini: Speaker's Bureau; Abbott. Advisory Panel; Medtronic. Speaker's Bureau; Sanofi. Consultant; embecta. Speaker's Bureau; MannKind Corporation. Advisory Panel; LifeScan Diabetes Institute. Consultant; Insulet Corporation. J. Fetzner: None. E. Rafi: None. C. Lewis: None. N.R. Galloway: Consultant; Tidepool. Board Member; Association Diabetes Care and Education Specialists. Y. Tsushima: None. R. Gorodeski Baskin: None. B. Hatipoglu: Research Support; Tandem Diabetes Care, Inc.
