Home-based interventions attempt to involve the entire family in efforts to prevent and manage diabetes. For example, through interactions between children and parents or guardians, families can help to provide meals and snacks that include nutritious foods, they can go for walks or bike rides as a family, or they can all participate in the monitoring of glucose levels and medication taking (e.g., including charts on the refrigerator). Likewise, the family is a great source of social support for diabetes prevention and management (e.g., social acceptance, dietary restrictions).
Home-based interventions are most effective when links to interventions in other settings are established:
- Community-based (e.g., encourage families to advocate for legislation to cover or reduce costs for diabetes test kits and medications)
- School-based (e.g., educate parents on how to support their children by increasing their self-confidence in their ability to manage their diabetes, and the laws that allow children with diabetes to participate fully and safely in school activities )
- Worksite-based (e.g., provide flex-time policies at work so that people have time to spend with their families offering education and support)
- Health care-based (e.g., encourage trained health care providers to provide tailored feedback to patients on how to manage their diabetes)
- Faith-based (e.g., increase outreach to families in the faith-based community and improve access to information about diabetes through faith-based affiliations)
Before You Begin…
There are a number of planning steps that lead to a variety of specific intervention strategies. For assistance with these planning steps, use the navigation bar at the end of this page. Intervention MICA provides you with tools to help you:
- Create a partnership with other individuals, groups and organizations within your community.
- Learn about your readiness to plan your intervention (readiness and preparation).
- Work on your organizational or community capacity, budget, funding sources, social determinants of health, or cultural competence (capacity).
- Prepare your evaluation in order to figure out how to measure the success of your intervention.
- Maintain your momentum through information, tools and resources to assist you in sustaining your partnership and intervention over time.
Below are specific intervention strategies for home-based interventions. If you will be working in other settings (e.g., communities, schools, worksites, faith-based organizations or health care facilities), then you will want to refer to these other settings for more information.
Intervention Strategies
Even though the intervention strategies that may be used are described separately below, each of these strategies is most effective when it is combined with other strategies. For example, changing knowledge, attitudes and beliefs will do little to influence diabetes prevention and management behaviors in children if the parents are not informed about the importance of monitoring glucose levels, taking medication, having ongoing contact with health care providers, purchasing and preparing nutritious foods, or getting physical activity. Similarly, changing knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs will not be as effective if families don’t have access to resources to pay for diabetes test kits, medications, nutritious foods, or facilities for physical activity.
It is important to make sure that the intervention strategies are created to represent and address the needs of the Community of Interest. This may include paying attention to how different groups think about diabetes prevention and management. For example, diabetes may be much more common in some communities, and, therefore, community members may believe that it is unavoidable. Furthermore, an intervention works best when there is an attempt to address language, reading level, and cultural barriers (see Cultural Competence for more information). For information on different populations that have received diabetes interventions, go to Diabetes in Different Populations.
--Increasing knowledge and skills, influencing attitudes and beliefs
Individual Information Exchange intervention strategies have been developed to increase individual knowledge and skills as well as to change attitudes, beliefs and behaviors related to diabetes. More specifically, these interventions may provide personally tailored information about the benefits of healthy lifestyles (e.g., balanced nutrition, physical activity, or quitting tobacco use), beliefs about health conditions related to diabetes (e.g., foot problems, kidney problems, vision problems) or management of diabetes (e.g., monitoring glucose, taking medication). Tailored information may take into account the person’s readiness for change or specific interests in order to help them prevent or manage diabetes. These interventions are also useful in helping individuals develop skills to seek assistance from others when needed (e.g., transportation to a pharmacy to purchase a glucose test kit).
Mass Media Campaigns are interventions that address messages about diabetes to large audiences. The campaigns are designed to increase knowledge as well as influence attitudes and beliefs. Messages are communicated using newspapers, radio, television, Internet, posters, pamphlets, brochures, newsletters, videos, direct mail and billboards with generic, untailored information.
Group Education Sessions are interventions focused on provision of information and are delivered through health education classes or group sessions. They provide education and skills related to decision-making and usually have multiple components, including: diabetes and health, glucose monitoring, medication, balanced nutrition, physical activity, tobacco use, other skill-building techniques, role playing, lectures and information. Health education classes are designed to affect behavior change through personal and behavioral factors that provide participants with the skills they need to make informed decisions. Because of the interactive nature of group settings, participants have the opportunity to learn new information, ask questions, get support from other participants and the facilitator or instructor, and practice new skills.
Provider Education Systems are interventions targeting health care providers (doctors, nurses, clinicians, health practitioners) to encourage them to educate their patients regarding the importance of diabetes prevention and management. Provider education systems include educating the providers on the importance of talking to their patients or clients, reminding providers to talk to their patients or clients during routine visits, and offering feedback to providers regarding their performance in delivering diabetes advice or assistance to patients or clients.
--Providing social support
Supportive Relationships are interventions that build on social or interpersonal relationships (e.g., family members, co-workers, friends, peers, role models) in order to provide a support system for behavior change. This may include increasing the information individuals have about diabetes (informational support), the skills and abilities people have to monitor their glucose and take their medication (tangible support), and the sense of acceptance and belonging among people with respect to eating balanced meals, getting physical activity, or quitting tobacco use (appraisal support). Examples of social support strategies include: group discussions, partner support, peer leaders, and parent-child interactions.
Group Education Sessions (see description above)
Provider Education Systems (see description above)
--Changing public policies and the community environment
Environment and policy initiatives are interventions that attempt to increase access to resources for diabetes prevention (e.g., increase availability, reduce cost, increase quality, and increase variety related to nutritious foods and physical activity facilities) and for diabetes management (e.g., increase availability and reduce costs associated with glucose test kits and diabetes medications).