Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #111983

Lisa M. Montuori, RN, MSN, MPH¹, R. Maude Guerrier¹, M. Lourdes Georges¹, Nadine Marsan¹, Claire Pierre, MD, and Laureen Gray, RN, MSN³. (1) Department of Community Affairs, Cambridge Health Alliance, 230 Highland Avenue, Somerville, MA 02143, 617-591-6942, lmontuori@challiance.org, (2) Pursuing Perfection, Cambridge Health Alliance, 1493 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02139

A health system's ability to engage individuals in self-management is a key component of improving the health status of people with chronic disease. Health disparities exist, in part, because of the inability of providers to effectively reach patients from diverse populations. Cambridge Health Alliance, a Massachusetts academic public healthcare system, is working to better engage its diverse patient population, including many new immigrants, through the collaboration of its community-based Volunteer Health Advisor (VHA) Program in a clinical initiative to deliver evidence-based diabetes care (Chronic Care model). The VHA Program works with faith- and community-based organizations to improve community health by creating a volunteer workforce that provides culturally and linguistically appropriate outreach and health education to underserved, hard-to-reach populations.

A subset of VHAs from the local Haitian, Latino, and Brazilian communities have been trained as Diabetes Specialists and are active in planning and conducting diabetes support groups in conjunction with clinical improvement initiatives. This presentation will give participants a look at how these support groups are planned, implemented, and evaluated and their effectiveness in working with clinical services. In addition, it will discuss the importance of including community-based approaches in evidence-based clinical efforts to improve the health status of diverse populations.

Learning Objectives:

• Define disease self-management and discuss its importance in improving health status outcomes in diverse populations
• Describe a process to plan, implement and evaluate a community-based method of engaging patients in diabetes self-management.
• Articulate three strategies to integrate community-based approaches with evidence based clinical improvement initiatives.
• Outline key opportunities and challenges in integrating a community-based program with a clinical quality improvement initiative.

Keywords: Chronic Diseases, Patient Education

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation