Lifestyle Program Prevents Diabetes in Washington State

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Submission Date: December 2010

State/Territory Submitted on the Behalf of: Washington

States/Territories Involved: Washington

Domain Addressed:

Community-Clinical Linkages

Public Health Issue:

  • One in 3 Washington adults has prediabetes diabetes & many of these adults will eventually develop type 2 diabetes.
  • Preventing development of chronic diseases such as diabetes is an important way to improve quality of life while keeping health care costs under control.
  • In a study of people with prediabetes who worked one-on-one with diabetes educators, the advancement of their condition to type 2 diabetes was reduced by almost sixty percent.
  • State diabetes programs work hard to take actions that will prevent diabetes among state residents but it is costly and difficult to replicate the effective outcomes of clinical trials such as this one due to small program budgets and limited staff.

Program Action:

  • Using the tested protocol to create a modified group program with YMCA staff as facilitators, researchers at Indiana University were able to show evaluation results nearly identical to the research study but at a much lower cost for implementation.
  • The Washington State Diabetes Prevention and Control Program developed a partnership with four YMCA’s to deliver this modified Indiana program, called Plan4Ward and brought experienced trainers from Minnesota to train YMCA staff as facilitators.
  • The four YMCA sites around the state established programs and enrolled people diagnosed with pre-diabetes as well as people at high risk for type 2 diabetes based on the American Diabetes Association risk test.
  • Sixty-eight people were enrolled and completed the first 16-week class series which included a free YMCA membership for the duration of the intervention.
  • Program epidemiologists developed an evaluation plan for the Washington YMCA project to collect and analyze the same measures as the Indiana model.

Impact/Accomplishments:

  • Preliminary participant data is promising.
  • Seattle is one of eleven national model sites selected to apply the CDC-YUSA model. Their model includes a reimbursement structure, in partnership with United Health Group which is vital because most people with prediabetes receive no reimbursement for the proven, effective intervention that this Washington program provides.

Program Areas:

Diabetes

State Contact Information:

WA
Jeanne Harmon
Washington State Department of Health
253-395-6758
jeanne.harmon@doh.wa.gov

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