Testing a peer support intervention for people with type 2 diabetes: a pilot for a randomised controlled trial

BMC Family Practice

Research Article

A Toby Prevost¹  Candice Ward²  Christopher Bunn²  Peter Robins²  Kym Birch²  Sarah Donald²  David Simmons³  Charlotte Paddison⁴  Simon Cohn⁴  Jonathan Graffy⁴ 

[1] Department of Primary Care and Public Health Sciences, King’s College London, London, UK;Institute of Metabolic Science, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK;Institute of Metabolic Science, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK;Wolfson Diabetes and Endocrinology Clinic, Institute of Metabolic Science, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Adden brookes Hospital, PO Box 281, Hills Road, CB2 0QQ, Cambridge, England, UK;Primary Care Unit, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK;

关键词: Diabetes;    Peer support;    Complex intervention;    Self-management;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2296-14-5

 received in 2012-08-24, accepted in 2012-12-19,  发布年份 2013

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundPeople with Type 2 diabetes face various psycho-social, self-management and clinical care issues and evidence is mixed whether support from others with diabetes, ‘peer support’, can help. We now describe a 2 month pilot study of different peer support interventions.MethodsThe intervention was informed by formative evaluation using semi-structured interviews with health professionals, community support groups and observation of diabetes education and support groups. Invitations to participate were mailed from 4 general practices and included a survey of barriers to care. Participants were randomized by practice to receive individual, group, combined (both individual and group) or no peer support. Evaluation included ethnographic observation, semi-structured interviews and questionnaires at baseline and post-intervention.ResultsOf 1,101 invited, 15% expressed an interest in participating in the pilot. Sufficient numbers volunteered to become peer supporters, although 50% of these (8/16) withdrew. Those in the pilot were similar to other patients, but were less likely to feel they knew enough about diabetes (60.8% vs 44.6% p = 0.035) and less likely to be happy with the diabetes education/care to date (75.4% vs 55.4% p = 0.013). Key issues identified were the need to recruit peer supporters directly rather than through clinicians, to address participant diabetes educational needs early and the potential for group sessions to have lower participation rates than 1:1 sessions.ConclusionsRecruitment to a full trial of peer support within the existing study design is feasible with some amendments. Attendance emerged as a key issue needing close monitoring and additional intervention during the trial.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Simmons et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2013