Development and Evaluation of a Diabetes Prevention Program Dissemination Strategy

Background: There is limited literature evaluating the impact of disseminating research results to past research study participants and their families. The purpose of the study was to evaluate whether disseminating results from a diabetes prevention program to past participants and their families facilitates motivation to engage in healthier behaviors. Methods: Previous youth participants from the “Every Little Step Counts” study were contacted and invited to a community dissemination event in November of 2022 at a local YMCA in the Phoenix Metropolitan area. All individuals in attendance at the event were invited to complete a 10-item questionnaire following a presentation about diabetes and the study results. 10 youth past participants, 9 adult past participants, and 13 community members completed the questionnaire to assess whether dissemination of past study results increases motivation to engage in healthier behaviors. Results: Aggregate responses revealed a 28.43% increase in motivation to eat healthier and a 33.45% increase in motivation to increase exercise. An increase in average response frequency was evident amongst all figures, indicating that overall, dissemination of research results was found to increase motivation to engage in healthier behaviors across community members, adult participants, and youth participants. Conclusions: This study supports the importance of disseminating research results from a diabetes prevention program to past participants in order to reinforce and maintain behavior change skills taught throughout the study, with the long-term goal of reducing type 2 diabetes risk in youth.