OBJECTIVE Although health literacy interventions have been shown to increase knowledge, self-management behaviors, and glycemic control among patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) who are facing social and economic challenges (SECs), research on their implementation in real-world primary care setting is limited. The objective of this study was to identify methods health professionals use to educate patients with T2D who are facing SECs, to improve their self-management behaviors. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Health professionals (i.e., nurses, diabetes care and education specialists, primary care practitioners, pharmacists, and medical assistants) from three primary care clinics in the midwestern U.S. were recruited to share strategies they use to promote self-management behaviors among patients facing SECs. Semistructured individual interviews were conducted for this naturalistic inquiry guided by the Self- and Family Management Framework. Interviews were transcribed and coded for conventional content analysis. RESULTS Twenty-nine health care professionals participated in the study. They described five methods to tailor teaching self-management behaviors to patients facing SECs: using multiple venues for education, tactics of simple language and repetition, visual aids, and the patient’s data as a teaching example; and personalizing recommendations. CONCLUSIONS Health care professionals in primary care identified creative strategies tailored to the needs and strengths of individual patients to improve diabetes self-management understanding and behaviors.
Chen et al. (Tue,) studied this question.