CHAPEL HILL, NC – The Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (HPDP), a CDC Prevention Research Center, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was awarded a $1.5 million contract to develop a national toolkit for public health and clinical providers to assure that people with diabetes have access to evidence-based education and support programs to help manage their condition.
Diabetes self-management education and support (DSMES) programs aim to prevent or delay the complications of diabetes. While proven to be cost-saving and have a positive impact on diabetes-related outcomes, DSMES programs remain underutilized among patients and health care professionals. The goal of this project is to expand access to DSMES programs to ensure that all people with diabetes are able to receive the care they need. The research team will market the programs to state health departments to help the health departments distribute the program across their states.
UNC investigators Alice Ammerman, DrPH, director of HPDP and professor of nutrition in the Gillings School of Global Public Health, Thomas Keyserling, MD, MPH, professor of internal medicine in the School of Medicine, Carmen-Samuel Hodge, RD, PhD, research assistant professor of nutrition at Gillings, Greg Randolph, MD, MPH in the department of pediatrics at the School of Medicine and Hugh Waters, PhD, associate professor in the School of Nursing will be partnering with Population Health Improvement Partners (PHIP), People Designs, RTI International, and the RTI-UNC Consortium for Implementation Science (CIS) on this project. The project is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We are delighted to have this opportunity to work with partners at the CDC and with our colleagues in the clinical and public health communities through this project,” said Ammerman. “The DSMES programs have the potential for enormous positive impact if we can develop, implement, and market a Toolkit that helps overcome the challenges provider, patient, and system levels.”
The research team will develop a strategic marketing plan for the toolkit to make sure that all audiences who could benefit from this project will be reached. Diabetes professionals across the United States will be trained to use these tools through a series of webinars and in-person training sessions.
“This toolkit will be a one-stop resource for creating, implementing, sustaining and maintaining a DSMES program that meets the highest quality standards set by the American Diabetes Association and the American Association of Diabetes Educators,” said Joanne Rinker, Senior Director For Community Health Improvement at PHIP. “We look forward to completing this work over the next 3 years and how it will impact access to diabetes self-management education.”
The UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention is a Prevention Research Center funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Media Contact: Sonya Sutton, ssutton@unc.edu; 919-966-4118