Empowering Faith-based Communities to Provide Personalized Diabetes Self-management Education and Support (DSMES) in the Magic City

In this study, individuals living with diabetes in the Birmingham area will participate in a free, 3-month DSMES program hosted by MedsPLUS Consulting, a local independent pharmacy and wellness center, at a local faith-based organization. DSMES sessions meet twice a month and typically address topics including physical activity, nutrition, coping, and reducing risk and complications. Prior to beginning the program, participants will complete a questionnaire that assesses diabetes self-management behaviors (such as diet, physical activity, and medication adherence) and diabetes knowledge. Additionally, they will participate in a biometric screening where clinical data such as blood A1C, blood pressure, blood cholesterol, and BMI are collected. This data will also be collected again after the completion of the program. In this program, participants will be assigned a community health worker who will contact them outside of scheduled DSMES sessions to provide support. Participants will also be randomly assigned to one of two cohorts, the Traditional cohort and the Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) cohort. The traditional cohort will use paper trackers to track blood pressure and blood sugar outside of DSMES sessions while the RPM cohort will utilize an RPM platform to track this data.