Study: ‘Promotores de Salud’ Help Diabetic Latinos Improve Health

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When diabetic Hispanic seniors got education about the disease and how to manage it from community health workers, called promotores de salud in Latino communities, they positively changed their diabetes self-management behaviors and health outcomes, according to a recent pilot study.

Now the study organizers, Humana Inc., are launching a larger study to test this effect of promotores and a culturally tailored diabetes self-management program.

The new study, which partners with National Council of La Raza (NCLR), Mexican American Unity Council, and other partners, is a one-year test of the new model with 150 Hispanic seniors with type 2 diabetes in San Antonio, Texas.

“We are very encouraged by the results of the pilot, which show that this approach to diabetes management helped seniors take better care of themselves and achieve improved health outcomes,” said Dr. Charles J. Morris, Humana’s regional medical officer of senior products for the Texas region. “The shared values and commitment of our partners made this endeavor possible. We are dedicated to moving this study into the next phase and hopefully, one day, implementing this practice broadly to help more seniors with diabetes live healthier, more fulfilling lives.”

In the pilot study, 10 promotores conducted learning sessions among 101 diabetic Hispanic seniors.

The seniors reports significant changes, including:

• Decreases in weight;
• Greater sense of responsibility for their health;
• Higher knowledge levels regarding the use of their medication;
• Increases in perceived ability to maintain changes in their lifestyle;
• Increases in perceived ability of eating four to five meals a day;
• Increases in perceived ability to eat in a healthy way if they had to share their food with people who were non-diabetic; and
• Increases in perceived ability to control their diabetes so that it did not interfere with their lives after their participation in the educational sessions.

In addition, the peer support provided by promotores appears to be a key component in the changes of participants’ behavior.

“This study has shown great promise in addressing one of the greatest barriers we have with the diabetic Latino population, which is access to health education and overall health care,” said Delia Pompa, senior vice President for programs at NCLR. “To see that the promotores were able to make a difference in the health of these seniors could be a game changer, and we look forward to the next phase of the study.”