The Albert Einstein College of Medicine Diabetes Research and Training Center Prevention and Control Component

Dr. Elizabeth A. Walker directs the Prevention and Control (P & C) component of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx. The multidisciplinary clinical and behavioral research team develops and evaluates interventions for preventive diabetes care and self-management, focusing on the health disparities of underserved and high-risk populations.

The P & C cores provide services to investigators with peer-reviewed NIH support or other funding to address diabetes-related issues in translation of research, in facilitation of clinical research, and in evaluation of health promotion interventions.

Einstein P & C research has lead to the development and evaluation of

• Interventions to promote ophthalmic screening in diabetes—This funded research has demonstrated that a multicomponent health education intervention, including print, video, and tailored telephone counseling, can be highly effective in improving the ophthalmic screening rates among African Americans with diabetes. A more broad-based telephone intervention for both Spanish- and English-speaking populations in the Bronx is under evaluation for cost-effectiveness.
  
  
• Interactive multimodal weight-control intervention—This research addresses techniques to optimize staff time in providing a weight control intervention. The American Diabetes Association has published the patient workbook and the staff curriculum from this research under the titles The Complete Weight Loss Workbook: Proven Techniques for Controlling Weight-Related Health Problems and The Leaders Guide for the Complete Weight Loss Workbook. The interactive computer system that helps patients individually tailor the weight loss approach has been converted to HTML code to make it usable via the Internet. Related collaborative investigations have lead to the development of materials to facilitate addressing Weight, Activity, Variety, and Excess (WAVE) as nutritional issues in primary care.
  
  
• Risk perceptions for developing diabetes—This survey research explores perception of risk for developing diabetes relative to environmental risks, and other disease risks in lay, expert and at risk for diabetes populations. Under evaluation is a survey for perception of risk for diabetes complications, a similar assessment for individuals with diagnosed diabetes.
  
  
• Medication adherence has been studied in the Diabetes Prevention Program in individuals at high risk for developing type 2 diabetes. The intervention includes a structured interview for assessment of barriers to adherence, strategies to improve adherence to medication, and the use of a toolbox approach and motivational interviewing to tailor the plan for the individual.
  
  

Health professional education programs include

• A diabetes management preceptorship offered in conjunction with graduate or postgraduate training programs for physicians, advanced-practice nurses, dietitians, and clinical health psychology trainees.
  
  
• A weekly basic science and clinical research conference, including topics in the multidisciplinary management of diabetes, new findings on diabetes clinical research, and basic research.

source: http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/drtc/index.htm