Neighborhood Diabetes Education Program Healthy Lifestyle Project

Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus is an epidemic which has become a concern to healthcare providers and researchers. There are 29.1 million people in the United States with diabetes; 21 million people are diagnosed and another 8.1 million people are undiagnosed. The literature shows that African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans have increase rates of Type 2 Diabetes. The Healthy Lifestyle Project was designed to educate individuals who are at risk for developing Type 2 Diabetes about prevention and to encourage the participants to lose at least 7% of their body mass index (BMI) by the end of the program. The Healthy Lifestyle Project was conducted at a local community health center in Brooklyn. This program targeted individuals of all ethnicities between the ages of 18 years or older. There were ten members of the community who volunteered to participate in this project. The participants were involved in a 10 to 12 week program in which they were given healthy lifestyle information about nutrition and daily physical activities. “Teach back” was used by the project coordinator to evaluate the participants’ understanding of the information provided during the group sessions. They had to utilize techniques, such as using a portion control plate and walking as a form of exercise to lose weight and hence decrease their BMI. The participants submitted their journals for review each week and in it contained their weekly dietary and daily physical activities. These journals showed the project coordinator each individual’s effort toward losing weight. In this project, 70% of the participants were able to lose weight, but only 30% of the participants decreased their BMI. This project showed that the participants who were able to lose weight when ready and committed to making lifestyle changes. Furthermore, this project also found that consistent group support and self-motivation were conducive to accomplishing weight loss.