PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Diabetic adults' conditions improved after phone calls with fellow patients

Blood sugar levels improved for those paired up for support with peers

2010-10-19
(Press-News.org) The findings, published Oct. 19 in the Annals of Internal Medicine, showed the peer partner program resulted in lower glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels after six months among men with uncontrolled diabetes.

The research was based on a peer partnership program established by the Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor Health System and the University of Michigan Medical School.

Each peer pair received initial brief training in peer communication skills and was expected to communicate by telephone at least once a week about their mutual efforts to improve diabetes control. Program participants also were offered optional periodic nurse-facilitated group sessions to exchange experiences with fellow patients.

"Our model was testing the hypothesis that a good way to activate patients was to give them some skills and encouragement to both help and be helped. Just as in education they say that the best way to learn something is to try to teach it," says study lead author Michele Heisler, M.D., who is a research scientist for the Center for Clinical Management Research at the VA Ann Arbor's Health Services Research & Development Center of Excellence and associate professor of internal medicine at the U-M's Medical School. Heisler also is associate professor of health behavior and health education at U-M's School of Public Health.

"We are trying to tap into the underappreciated expertise of patients," Heisler says. "Most disease management programs put patients in the 'learner' role, whether nurse care management programs or 'expert' peer programs. But patients know a lot about living with their condition and strategies they have developed so have a lot to share with others also struggling. Our program hoped to mobilize patients themselves to realize how much they themselves had to offer another person with diabetes and enjoy the sense of meaning and pleasure that being needed and helping another can provide.

That's why I think people did well-- they were very motivated when they felt they were helping someone else."

In the peer support group, researchers randomly assigned 244 VA patients with uncontrolled diabetes to either peer support or traditional nurse care management. At the start, patients in the peer support group met in a group setting to set their own disease management goals and specific steps they wanted to take over the next few weeks, received basic peer communication tips, were matched with another study participant of similar age (their peer partner), and were advised to talk with their peer partner once per week. For their peer calls they used the telephones but through a system that linked calls without their having to exchange their telephone calls, that enabled them to block calls at certain hours, and that provided reminder calls if they missed a week.

Heisler says she and her fellow researchers expected to see benefits from the peer support, but were surprised at how large the improvement in glycemic control from the program after six months was. The patients who were randomly assigned to the peer support program achieved HbA1c levels that were 0.58 percentage points lower on average than those in the nurse care management group. And patients in the peer support group with baseline HbA1c levels greater than 8 percent achieved a mean decrease of 0.88 percentage points, compared with a 0.07-percentage point decrease among those in the nurse care management group. This is equivalent to that achieved by starting another oral anti-hyperglyemic medication.

More patients in the peer support group also started insulin therapy at much higher rates than those in the nurse care management group, a step that many patients resist.

"The higher rate of insulin therapy initiation in the peer support group suggests that patents' concerns about insulin may be best addressed by another person who also is coping with insulin management," Heisler says.

Heisler says this is the first randomized controlled trial to examine reciprocal peer support in chronic disease management. This can be a low-cost, easy-to-implement system that allows patients to get more one-on-one support in managing a chronic illness, Heisler says.

"Most chronically ill patients need more support for self-care than most health care systems can provide. That's why programs like this, that increase the quality and intensity of assistance through peer support, deserve further exploration," Heisler says.

### Additional authors: Sandeep Vijan, M.D., of U-M and VA Ann Arbor; Fatima Makki, M.P.H, M.S.W. of VA Ann Arbor; John Piette, Ph.D., of U-M and VA Ann Arbor.

Funding: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Health Services Research and Development Service (HSR&D)

END



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Computational model of swimming fish could inspire design of robots or medical prosthetics

Computational model of swimming fish could inspire design of robots or medical prosthetics
2010-10-19
VIDEO: The lamprey's body is gray, and the areas where muscle is active are shown with black lines. Note that the active muscle moves backwards slightly faster than the fish... Click here for more information. Scientists at the University of Maryland and Tulane University have developed a computational model of a swimming fish that is the first to address the interaction of both internal and external forces on locomotion. The interdisciplinary research team simulated how ...

Generous paupers and stingy princes? Power and consumer spending

2010-10-19
How do people decide how much to spend on purchases for themselves versus others? A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research says it all depends on how powerful we feel at the moment of choice. "We ask whether the powerful and powerless differentially value the self versus others, and whether this, in turn, translates into observable differences in their spending behavior," write authors Derek D. Rucker, David Dubois, and Adam D. Galinsky (Kellogg School at Northwestern University). The authors conducted five experiments where they manipulated participants' states ...

Would you sleep on a chunk of ice? Building your 'experience resume'

2010-10-19
If sleeping on a bed of ice or eating bacon-flavored ice cream doesn't sound too appealing, consider the tale you'll have to tell about it later. According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, some people can't resist a chance to collect experiences. "Recent marketing trends suggest that many consumers are attracted to unusual and novel consumption experiences and choose vacations, leisure activities, and celebrations that are predicted to be less pleasurable and enjoyable," write authors Anat Keinan (Harvard Business School) and Ran Kivetz (Columbia Business ...

Cash is healthier? Credit and debit increase impulsive food purchases

2010-10-19
People are more likely to buy unhealthy foods when they pay using credit or debit cards, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. "Two factors contribute to this intriguing effect," write authors Manoj Thomas (Cornell University), Kalpesh Kaushik Desai (State University of New York, Binghamton), and Satheeshkumar Seenivasan (State University of New York, Buffalo). "First, there is a correlation between unhealthiness and impulsiveness of food items: Unhealthy food items also tend to elicit impulsive responses. Second, cash payments are psychologically ...

Consortium: Higher ed curricula not keeping pace with societal, tech changes

2010-10-19
The structure of the university in the 21st century is changing rapidly after its evolution into a multiversity in the 20th century. But as universities are being restructured to best serve the society of tomorrow, are their curricula reflecting these changes and the development of new and possibly even unformulated new disciplines and areas of inquiry? "No," says a consortium of educators that range from Arizona State University to University of New Delhi, India, and Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin , Germany, who have launched a website (www.curriculumreform.org), hoping ...

Treating cancer with light

2010-10-19
WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 – Can skin cancer be treated with light? Scientists at the University of California, Irvine (UC Irvine), believe so. They're exploring new ways to image cancerous lesions using LEDs that might advance a technique for treating cancer called photodynamic therapy (PDT) -- work that they will describe at the Optical Society's (OSA) 94th annual meeting, Frontiers in Optics (FiO) 2010 at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center in Rochester, N.Y., from Oct. 24-28. In PDT, photosensitizing chemicals that absorb light are injected into a tumor, which is ...

Shock tactics: Bioelectrical therapy for cancer and birth defects?

2010-10-19
Stem cell therapies hold increasing promise as a cure for multiple diseases. But the massive potential of a healthy stem cell has a flip side, as faulty regulation of stem cells leads to a huge range of human diseases. Even before birth, mistakes made by the stem cells of the foetus are a major cause of congenital defects, and cancer is also caused by the body losing control of stem cell function. Guiding stem cells along the correct pathways and, where necessary, reversing their mistakes is the goal of everyone in this field. Now, Michael Levin (http://www.drmichaellevin.org/) ...

Bioelectrical signals turn stem cells' progeny cancerous

Bioelectrical signals turn stem cells progeny cancerous
2010-10-19
MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, Mass.--Biologists at Tufts University School of Arts and Sciences have discovered that a change in membrane voltage in newly identified "instructor cells" can cause stem cells' descendants to trigger melanoma-like growth in pigment cells. The Tufts team also found that this metastatic transformation is due to changes in serotonin transport. The discovery could aid in the prevention and treatment of diseases like cancer and vitiligo as well as birth defects. The research is reported in the October 19, 2010, issue of Disease Models and Mechanisms. ...

Solar Energy Systems Now A 'Must Have'

2010-10-19
More South Australian homeowners are going greener and adding tangible value to their homes by adopting the latest home energy technology. Chief Executive Officer of ZEN Home Energy Systems, Mr Richard Turner, said he has been inundated with requests for home energy systems, as home owners play their part for the environment, lower their energy bills and also boost the value of their homes. The ZEN Home Energy System is the first of its kind to offer consumers a complete branded, fully integrated solar grid connect home energy system. "ZEN has turned ...

Maximize Your Next M&A Deal -Merrill Datasite

2010-10-19
Does your management team have M&A experience? What preparation work must be completed and what resources will be required? For many mid-sized companies, preparing for an M&A transaction places a significant burden on staff and resources. The management team, largely focused on the day-to-day operations of the company, must now find time to lead the company through the preparation process and be available to respond to arising issues and unexpected challenges as a potential deal unfolds. The best practice is to conduct a "readiness" assessment to determine the steps ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Long COVID brain fog linked to lung function

Concussions slow brain activity of high school football players

Study details how cancer cells fend off starvation and death from chemotherapy

Transformation of UN SDGs only way forward for sustainable development 

New study reveals genetic drivers of early onset type 2 diabetes in South Asians 

Delay and pay: Tipping point costs quadruple after waiting

Magnetic tornado is stirring up the haze at Jupiter's poles

Cancers grow uniformly throughout their mass

Researchers show complex relationship between Arctic warming and Arctic dust

Brain test shows that crabs process pain

Social fish with low status are so stressed out it impacts their brains

Predicting the weather: New meteorology estimation method aids building efficiency

Inside the ‘swat team’ – how insects react to virtual reality gaming 

Oil spill still contaminating sensitive Mauritius mangroves three years on

Unmasking the voices of experience in healthcare studies

Pandemic raised food, housing insecurity in Oregon despite surge in spending

OU College of Medicine professor earns prestigious pancreatology award

Sub-Saharan Africa leads global HIV decline: Progress made but UNAIDS 2030 goals hang in balance, new IHME study finds

Popular diabetes and obesity drugs also protect kidneys, study shows

Stevens INI receives funding to expand research on the neural underpinnings of bipolar disorder

Protecting nature can safeguard cities from floods

NCSA receives honors in 2024 HPCwire Readers’ and Editors’ Choice Awards

Warning: Don’t miss Thanksgiving dinner, it’s more meaningful than you think

Expanding HPV vaccination to all adults aged 27-45 years unlikely to be cost-effective or efficient for HPV-related cancer prevention

Trauma care and mental health interventions training help family physicians prepare for times of war

Adapted nominal group technique effectively builds consensus on health care priorities for older adults

Single-visit first-trimester care with point-of-care ultrasound cuts emergency visits by 81% for non-miscarrying patients

Study reveals impact of trauma on health care professionals in Israel following 2023 terror attack

Primary care settings face barriers to screening for early detection of cognitive impairment

November/December Annals of Family Medicine Tip Sheet

[Press-News.org] Diabetic adults' conditions improved after phone calls with fellow patients
Blood sugar levels improved for those paired up for support with peers