Family Intervention for Chinese Americans With Type 2 Diabetes
Condition: Type 2 Diabetes
MeSH terms: Diabetes Mellitus; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The goal of this pilot study is to examine the feasibility and acceptability of a
      family-oriented SMS intervention in 30 Chinese Americans with T2D and their family members.
      Participants will be randomized to one of 2 arms (n=15 each): 1) wait-list control and 2) SMS
      intervention. Both groups will continue to receive standard of care treatment for their T2D.
      The SMS group will receive brief lifestyle counseling videos via SMS links. At the end of the
      study, the wait-list control group will be provided the opportunity to receive the counseling
      videos.
    

Detailed description: 
      Chinese Americans are one of the fastest growing immigrant groups in the US, who suffer
      disproportionately high type 2 diabetes (T2D) burden and have poorly controlled T2D. Given
      the high economic and societal burden of T2D and rapid population growth in Chinese
      Americans, there is an urgent need for research to develop effective interventions to address
      T2D burden in this population. Recent evidence suggests the importance of involving and
      empowering family members in diabetes intervention and calls for family intervention. A
      mobile health approach such as short message service (SMS) might be a promising way to
      deliver such family-oriented interventions to the target population given prior studies
      suggests that Chinese Americans often report challenges to attend in-person lifestyle
      counseling because of long working hours and lack of sick time from work. A SMS-based
      intervention provides the flexibility of allowing them to view the intervention at a time and
      place convenient to them. This study will serve as the first step to explore an alternative
      approach for managing T2D in this group.
    

Intervention name(s): Wait-list control group; SMS intervention
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): For patient participants, they will continue to receive the standard of usual care for their T2D at the CBWCHC during the course of our study. For family/friend participants, they will continue to receive their routine care with their own doctors during the study. At the end of the study, the wait-list control group (both patient and family/friend participants) will be provided the opportunity to receive the counseling videos delivered to them via SMS links.; 2-3 SMS-based diabetes videos will be sent to patients each week for 12 weeks (each video within 10 minutes in duration) to both patients and their family members. Patients and their family members will receive the same intervention videos, including basic information about T2D, importance of diabetes self-management at home, behavioral techniques, and family-oriented sessions. BrainShark will be used to determine whether participants view these,videos. For participants who miss 3 consecutive videos, the study team will follow-up with a phone call to identify barriers to watching the video and remind them to review the video.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Double (Care Provider, Investigator)
Primary purpose: Health Services Research
Keywords: Chinese Americans