Layperson-Delivered Empathetic Intervention Ups Glycemic Control
FRIDAY, Dec. 13, 2024 -- A telephone-based layperson-delivered empathetic engagement is beneficial for improving glycemic control in patients with diabetes with low income, according to a study published online Dec. 10 in JAMA Network Open.
Maninder K. Kahlon, Ph.D., from Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin, and colleagues examined the effectiveness of layperson-delivered empathetic engagement over the telephone in helping improve glycemic management in a parallel-arm randomized study involving 260 patients with uncontrolled diabetes. Patients assigned to the intervention group received empathy-oriented telephone calls by community-hired laypeople for six months, while control group participants received usual care.
The researchers found that at six months, participants in the intervention group had significant mean decreases in hemoglobin A1c level (from 10.0 to 9.3 percent) compared with the control group (from 9.8 to 9.7 percent). The within-person change in the hemoglobin A1c level was −0.7 and 0.02 percent for the intervention and control groups, respectively. For the subgroup with a 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) score of 5 or more at baseline (patients with baseline depressive risk), the within-person change in hemoglobin A1c was −1.1 and 0.1 percent for the intervention and control groups, respectively, while for the subgroup with a PHQ-9 score of less than 5, the corresponding changes were −0.4 and −0.02 percent. At six months, 91.7 percent of the participants said that the program was very beneficial or extremely beneficial.
"Identifying how such a workforce might accompany and be coordinated with clinical care could accelerate achieving meaningful outcomes for patients and the health system," the authors write.
One author disclosed financial ties to Sandoz, Johnson & Johnson, and 3M.
Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.
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