RESEARCH

Food insecurity is associated with hypoglycemia and poor diabetes self-management in a low-income sample with diabetes (2010)
More than 14% of the American population is food insecure, or at risk of going hungry because of an inability to afford food. Food-insecure (FI) adults often reduce food intake or substitute inexpensive, energy-dense carbohydrates for healthier foods. This study indicated that food insecurity is a barrier to diabetes self-management and a risk factor for clinically significant hypoglycemia.

Taking Diabetes Care to the Community (2010)
Researchers in Baltimore, Maryland, set out a few years ago to find a successful approach for managing type 2 diabetes mellitus in U.S. blacks, a group disproportionately afflicted with the disease and its complications.

Improving Diabetes Care and Health Measures Among Hispanics Using Community Health Workers (2009)
This prospective randomized design evaluated the relative effectiveness of a CHW intervention among Hispanic persons with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes, as compared with usual clinic practice in three inner-city health centers.

Effectiveness of a community health worker as sole diabetes educator: comparison of CoDE with similar culturally appropriate interventions(2008)
This study suggests that a community health worker can serve as the primary patient educator in the absence of more highly educated personnel required by American Diabetes Association-certified diabetes education programs. This low-cost model can be reproduced de novo in community health centers or inserted into existing diabetes management interventions.

Intervention with Delivery of Diabetic Meals Improves Glycemic Control in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (2008)
This study provides evidence that intervention with delivery of diabetic meals to patients with type 2 diabetes can be equally effective for achieving glycemic control as individual dietary counselling by a dietitian. Diabetic meal delivery can therefore be used successfully to provide diabetes education to outpatients.

Brief Intervention in Type 1 diabetes – Education for Self-efficacy (BITES): Protocol for a randomised control trial to assess biophysical and psychological effectiveness (2007)
Objectives: To study the biophysical and psychological effectiveness of a brief psycho-educational intervention for type 1 diabetes in adults.

Fighting Obesity and Diabetes One Corner Store at a Time(2007)
The Baltimore Healthy Stores (BHS) project was initiated in 2005 by the Johns Hopkins Center for Human Nutrition with the leadership of Dr. Joel Gittelsohn . BHS was designed as a partnership with select supermarkets, corner stores, and community organizations in an attempt to increase access and availability of healthy foods to the inner-city population of Baltimore.

The Effectiveness of a Community Health Worker Outreach Program on Healthcare Utilization of West Baltimore City Medicaid Patients with Diabetes, With or Without Hypertenstion (2003)
The CHW program resulted in an average savings of $2,245 per patient per year, and a total savings of $262,080 for 117 patients, with improved quality of life (QOL) indicating cost effectiveness.