Engaging Faith-Based Resources to Initiate and Support Diabetes Self-Management Among African Americans: A Collaboration of Informal and Formal Systems of Care

Diabetes for Life (DFL), a project of Memphis Healthy Churches (MHC) and Common Table Health Alliance (CTHA; formerly Healthy Memphis Common Table [HMCT]), is a self-management program aimed at reducing health disparities among African Americans with type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Memphis and Shelby Co...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Health promotion practice 2014-11, Vol.15 (2_suppl), p.71S-82S
Main Authors: Johnson, Patria, Hartig, Margaret Thorman, Frazier, Renee, Clayton, Mae, Oliver, Georgia, Nelson, Belinda W., Williams-Cleaves, Beverly J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
African Americans
Aged
Christianity
Cooperative Behavior
Delivery of Health Care - organization & administration
Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - therapy
Female
Health Promotion
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Organizational Case Studies
Religion and Medicine
Self Care
Social Support
Tennessee
Young Adult
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Summary:Diabetes for Life (DFL), a project of Memphis Healthy Churches (MHC) and Common Table Health Alliance (CTHA; formerly Healthy Memphis Common Table [HMCT]), is a self-management program aimed at reducing health disparities among African Americans with type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Memphis and Shelby County, Tennessee. This program is one of five national projects that constitute The Alliance to Reduce Disparities in Diabetes, a 5-year grant-funded initiative of The Merck Foundation. Our purpose is to describe the faith-based strategies supporting DFL made possible by linking with an established informal health system, MHC, created by Baptist Memorial Health Care. The MHC network engaged volunteer Church Health Representatives as educators and recruiters for DFL. The components of the DFL project and the effect on chronic disease management for the participants will be described. The stages of DFL recruitment and implementation from an open-access to a closed model involving six primary care practices created a formal health system. The involvement of CTHA, a regional health collaborative, created the opportunity for DFL to expand the pool of health care providers and then recognize the core of providers most engaged with DFL patients. This collaboration between MHC and HMCT led to the organization of the formal health network.
ISSN:1524-8399
1552-6372
DOI:10.1177/1524839914543012