Search

Purpose of Review: This review describes some of the unique challenges faced by the US-Affiliated Pacific Islands (USAPIs) in addressing diabetes prevention and care and presents innovative population-level strategies that have been employed to address them., Recent Findings: Challenges include an unhealthy food environment and a strained health care infrastructure, both compounded by geography. Innovations in addressing these challenges include attempts to modify the food environment, a focus on early life prevention, and task shifting among the health workforce. Many of the successful interventions share a focus on culture, community, and capacity building. Although the USAPIs are uniquely challenged by environmental, structural, and health system barriers, there have been a number of innovative and successful strategies employed that highlight the resilience of these island nations in addressing their current disease burden when provided with the opportunity and resources to do so. Health policies to protect, support, and promote diabetes prevention and care are essential and may be informed by the interventions described.

Background: Pacific Islander populations, including Marshallese, face a disproportionately high burden of health disparities relative to the general population., Objectives: A community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach was utilized to engage Marshallese participants in a comparative effectiveness trial testing 2 Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) interventions designed to reduce participant's weight, lower HbA1c, encourage healthy eating, and increase physical activity., Design: To compare the effectiveness of the faith-based (WORD) DPP to the culturally adapted (Pacific Culturally Adapted Diabetes Prevention Program [PILI]) DPP, a clustered randomized controlled trial (RCT) with 384 Marshallese participants will be implemented in 32 churches located in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. Churches will be randomly assigned to WORD DPP arm or to PILI DPP arm., Methods: WORD DPP focuses on connecting faith and health to attain a healthy weight, eat healthy, and be more physically active. In contrast, PILI DPP is a family and community focused DPP curriculum specifically adapted for implementation in Pacific Islander communities. PILI focuses on engaging social support networks to maintain a healthy weight, eat healthy, and be more physically active. All participants are assessed at baseline, immediate post intervention, and 12 months post intervention., Summary: Both interventions aim to cause weight loss through improving physical activity and healthy eating, with the goal of preventing the development of T2D. The clustered RCT will determine which intervention is most effective with the Marshallese population. The utilization of a CBPR approach that involves local stakeholders and engages faith-based institutions in Marshallese communities will increase the potential for success and sustainability. This study is registered at clinicaltrials.gov (NCT03270436).

Background: The prevalence of diabetes is unusually high among the indigenous peoples of Hawaii and the US-associated Pacific Islands. Although diabetes programs developed elsewhere have been tried in these Pacific Islander communities, they have not been sustained. Research suggests that program sustainability is enhanced by the presence of a champion, the fit of the program in an organization, and assistance from stakeholders., Context: In 1998, the Pacific Diabetes Today Resource Center, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, applied a community-empowerment approach to diabetes programming, providing training and technical assistance to coalitions in 11 US-associated Pacific Islands communities. When funding ended in 2004, many of the diabetes programs continued. In 2008, we revisited the 11 communities to examine the vitality of their diabetes coalitions and factors that were known to sustain the programs., Methods: We interviewed coalition representatives in each of the 11 communities about diabetes-related programming developed from 1999 through 2003 and factors influencing sustainability of diabetes-related activities., Consequences: Coalitions that continued the diabetes programming they developed for or adapted to their communities had community leaders (or champions), found supportive organizational homes for the programs, and had assistance. Four case studies show how these factors affected successful coalitions., Interpretation: Freedom to adapt programs to new cultural contexts was a key factor in sustaining diabetes programs in the region.