Telehealth image by National Cancer Institute on unsplash.com

A recent study by Hanford-based My Diabetes Tutor (MDT), a nationally accredited diabetes self-management education and support (DSMES) program, demonstrated the effectiveness of diabetes education in specifically tailored culturally accessible programs for English and Spanish-speaking individuals.

The study — “Effectively Reducing Health Disparities: The Impact of an All-Spanish DSMES Curriculum,” found reductions in A1C levels, with an average 1.6% decrease for high-risk Spanish speakers, and a 1.2% decrease for English-speaking participants.

In addition to A1C decreases, the study also found that 84% of English-speaking participants and 57% of Spanish-speaking participants achieved healthy eating goals.

“My Diabetes Tutor was created to remove language and location barriers and provide diabetes education and support in several languages via telehealth,” said Dr. Prem Sahasranam, founder, CEO and chief medical officer of MDT. “Our program offers individualized patient support, which results in better outcomes. Our exceptional patient satisfaction scores reflect our educators’ customized approach and ability to improve clinical and behavioral outcomes.”

The study, presented at the Association of Diabetes Care and Education Specialists (ADCES) 2024 National Conference, highlighted the need for language barriers to be broken down, especially in communities with high diabetes rates, Sahasranam said.

The program, which operates fully online, is accessible to patients outside of business hours, breaking down accessibility barriers and accommodating participants’ schedules.

In addition to revealing relevant health information and statistics, the study also reported high satisfaction rates — an average of 4.9 out of 5 for English-speaking participants and an average of 5.0 for Spanish-speakers.

MDT was founded in 2019 to help address the challenge of unmanaged diabetes. The program aims to close a gap between diabetes care and education for underserved communities.

For more information about the study, visit My Diabetes Tutor.