IHA Health Literacy Conference Features Alliance to Reduce Disparities in Diabetes Leaders

The Institute for Healthcare Advancement will hold its12th Annual Health Literacy Conference May 8-10 in Irvine, California and Alliance program leaders from Chicago, Dallas and Memphis as well as the Alliance’s program evaluator RTI International will participate.

 Click here to register and use the discount code ARDD13 to receive a $50 discount on the registration cost.

 See below for highlights of the Chicago and Dallas poster presentations. Make sure to visit the Alliance’s Twitter and Facebook pages for more information and to share your thoughts. Stay tuned for our next E-Blast that will feature the presentations from the Memphis program and RTI International. 

Dallas Program Addresses Health Literacy Outside the Doctor's Office With Community Health Workers (CHWs) 

The Alliance’s Dallas program, the Diabetes Equity Project (DEP), aims to reduce disparities in diabetes care and diabetes outcomes in the largely Hispanic, medically underserved communities surrounding Baylor Health Care System hospitals. CHWs work to extend the patient-provider relationship and increase access to health services and education. Initial program results show that DEP patients had significantly higher scores on the Perceived Competence Scale in Diabetes (PCSD) one year post-baseline. The high rates of success in the program indicate that the use of CHWs to coordinate care and provide diabetes education to underserved populations could be an effective model for use with similar populations in other cities.

Read Dallas’ IHA abstract submission here for more information on the use of CHWs to improve health outcomes in underserved populations.

Chicago Program to Present Poster at IHA on Benefits of Combining Tailored Education and Shared Decision-Making

Leaders from the Chicago program have teamed up with local community health centers and community partners to empower patients to better manage their diabetes. The intervention addresses two well-known barriers facing racial/ethnic populations and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds: limited health literacy and lack of cultural tailoring of programs. The program consists of 10-sessions co-taught by nurses, diabetes educators and dieticians, and program participants showed improvements in diabetes self management skills and clinical measures.

Read the IHA abstract submission here for more information on the Diabetes Empowerment Program.

About the Alliance to Reduce Disparities in Diabetes

The Alliance to Reduce Disparities in Diabetes, a national program launched and supported by the Merck Foundation, works to improve health care delivery among those populations most at risk for diabetes – African-American, Hispanic/Latino and Native American adults. The five health care delivery sites that comprise the Alliance to Reduce Disparities in Diabetes have implemented multifaceted evidence-based approaches designed to eliminate gaps produced by inequity and lack of targeted attention to those adults and their families who are most likely to be severely burdened by diabetes.

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