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Translation of the Diabetes Prevention Program’s Lifestyle Intervention: Role of Community Health Workers

  • Translational Strategies for Diabetes Prevention (D Marrero, Section Editor)
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Abstract

Approximately 8.3% of the US population has diabetes and estimates indicate that 79 million adults have prediabetes and 33.8% are obese, increasing their risk of diabetes. The national Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) and subsequent translation studies have demonstrated the efficacy of the DPP lifestyle intervention (DPPLI) on lowering weight and reducing risk of type 2 diabetes over 10 years. Innovative strategies are needed to translate the DPPLI to reach people at risk of diabetes. Community health workers represent a group of individuals poised to play a role in supporting the translation of the DPPLI, especially in underserved populations. This article aims to 1) describe community health workers in general; 2) describe their role and impact on diabetes care in general; and 3) provide a detailed overview of studies involving community health workers in the translation of the DPPLI.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Kevin Grandfield for his editorial review of this manuscript. Also, L. Ruggiero’s research described in this paper was supported by Cooperative Agreement #1-U48-DP-000048 from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including support from the Division of Diabetes Translation. The findings and conclusions in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the CDC.

Disclosure

Conflicts of interest: L. Ruggiero: has received payment for lectures including service on speakers bureaus and for development of educational presentations for Johnson and Johnson Diabetes Institute; and has received grant support from the National Institutes of Health; A. Castillo: has been a consultant for the American Diabetes Association; has received grant support from the National Institutes of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases; National Institute on Aging; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and has received payment for lectures including service on speakers bureaus for the National Speakers Network L. Quinn: none; M. Hochwert: none.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Illinois at Chicago, Institute for Health Research and Policy, School of Public Health, 1747 West Roosevelt Road (MC 275), Chicago, IL, 60608, USA

    Laurie Ruggiero, Amparo Castillo & Michelle Hochwert

  2. College of Nursing (MC 802), University of Illinois at Chicago, 845 South Damen Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60612, USA

    Lauretta Quinn

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  1. Laurie Ruggiero
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  2. Amparo Castillo
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  4. Michelle Hochwert
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Correspondence to Laurie Ruggiero.

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Ruggiero, L., Castillo, A., Quinn, L. et al. Translation of the Diabetes Prevention Program’s Lifestyle Intervention: Role of Community Health Workers. Curr Diab Rep 12, 127–137 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11892-012-0254-y

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