What were we trying to do?
We tested a culturally tailored diabetes self-management education and support programme called Healthy Eating & Active Lifestyles for Diabetes (HEAL-D).

 

This programme, which can be delivered either in-person or online, was developed for people of Black-African and Black-Caribbean ethnicity with Type 2 diabetes (T2D) in the UK. The programme was designed to help reduce blood sugar (HbA1c) levels, as well as improve knowledge and quality of life. 

 

 

Why was this important?
People of Black-African and Black-Caribbean ethnicity are 2-4 times more likely to develop T2D than people of White ethnicity. But diabetes self-management education and support programmes had been considerably less successful in minority ethnic groups, with less people using them and less reduction in HbA1c levels. 

 

Developing a programme to support people of Black-African and Black-Caribbean ethnicity who have T2D was important, because it could help reduce some of the disabling and even life-threatening complications that the disease can produce. This would improve the quality of life for this group, as well as potentially save the NHS money in treatment costs. 

 

 

How did we do it?
We compared the use of standard diabetes education programmes with the use of the HEAL-D culturally tailored programme. To do this, we recruited adults of Black-African and Black-Caribbean ethnicity from London, Manchester and the West Midlands. 

 

During the study, we:

• Ran an internal early-stage study to test our recruitment systems.
• Tested the effectiveness of HEAL-D, compared with standard education programmes, by comparing participants’ HbA1c levels 12 months after beginning each programme.
• Assessed the impact of HEAL-D on other outcomes including blood pressure, blood lipids, weight, waist circumference, body fat, quality of life, depressive symptoms, diabetes knowledge, physical activity, and food intake at 6, 12 and 24 months.
• Assessed whether HEAL-D was cost effective.
• Assessed how the programme was introduced and delivered in the healthcare system.
• Assessed the impact of multiple long-term conditions (MLTC) on how we recruited people to use the programme, how they engaged with it and its impact on the MLTC. We did this in a study called SWAP.

 

 

Findings

FIndings will be available in due course. 

 

 

Who did we work with?

This study was led by Professor Louise Goff, Professor of Nutrition Science at the Leicester Diabetes Centre, University of Leicester. 

 

The Evaluation theme of ARC-GM worked with the HEAL-D team to assess the added value of working with local Voluntary, Community, Faith, and Social Enterprises (VCSFE) to improve recruitment of local people to the trial.

 

For more information on the other organisations and researchers that were involved in HEAL-D, visit the ‘Meet the researchers’ page. 

 

 

Funding information
This study was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) via its Health Technology Assessment programme Award ID: NIHR151372

 

The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care. 

 

 

More information
 

 

 

Programme Manager
Gill Rizzello
gill.rizzello@manchester.ac.uk