What is the clinical evidence from this study?

Study design: Observational. Population: Diabetes (n=242). Intervention: The Diabetes Garage program. Primary outcome: Program start rate and retention rate for completion of four workshops.

What does this research mean for the field?

A culturally tailored, automotive-themed diabetes education program can successfully engage Hispanic men and achieve high retention rates, with word-of-mouth being the most effective recruitment strategy. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.NOVEL_FINDING. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

What question did this study set out to answer?

This research aims to explore the start and retention rates of the Diabetes Garage program while identifying effective recruitment strategies for Hispanic men.

June 7, 2026

2743-LB: Driving Hispanic Male Participation: The Diabetes Garage Retention Rates and Recruitment Success through Personal Communication in a Car-Themed Diabetes Management Program

Key Result

The car-themed Diabetes Garage education program successfully engaged Hispanic men, achieving a 92.6% start rate and an 83.9% retention rate for completing all four workshops.

Key Points

This research aims to explore the start and retention rates of the Diabetes Garage program while identifying effective recruitment strategies for Hispanic men.
Conducted a process evaluation across multiple sites in Texas (El Paso, Harlingen, and San Antonio) from 2020-2023.
Utilized descriptive statistics to calculate start rates (SR) and retention rates (RR) based on participant attendance.
Documented reasons for attrition and analyzed various recruitment strategies for effectiveness.
242 males consented to participate, with a start rate of 92.6% (n=224) attending at least one workshop.
Retention rate for completing three workshops was 86.6% (n=194) and 83.9% (n=188) for four workshops.
The primary reason for dropout (13.4%) included loss of contact, obligations, and other personal factors.

Study Design

Type

Observational (n=242)

Multicenter

Yes

Structured PICO

Does a car-culture-themed diabetes education program improve engagement and retention in Hispanic men with diabetes?

Population

242 Hispanic men enrolled in a car-themed diabetes education program across three sites in Texas.

Exposure

The Diabetes Garage (DG) program, an online/hybrid car-culture-themed diabetes education program consisting of 4 workshops

Outcome

Program start rates (SR), retention rates (RR), and effective recruitment strategies

A culturally tailored, automotive-themed diabetes education program achieved high retention rates (83.9%) among Hispanic men, demonstrating the effectiveness of targeted engagement strategies.

Abstract

Introduction and Objective: The Diabetes Garage (DG) program was developed to engage Hispanic men in an online/hybrid diabetes education intervention. Hispanic men are underrepresented in diabetes self-management programs despite experiencing higher diabetes prevalence and mortality rates compared with national averages. The study objective was to: (1) examine program start and retention rates, and (2) identify recruitment strategies most effective for engaging Hispanic men in a novel car-culture-themed diabetes education program. Methods: A process evaluation assessed program reach in El Paso, Harlingen, and San Antonio, Texas, from 2020-2023. Descriptive statistics were used to calculate start rates (SR) and retention rates (RR) across 27 DG program series. SR was defined as the percentage of participants who consented and attended at least one workshop. Retention was defined as attendance at three workshops or completion of all four workshops. Reasons for attrition were documented, and recruitment strategies were analyzed to determine their relative reach. Results: Across all delivery sites, 242 males consented to participate in DG. Of those, 92.6% (n=224) started the program. The retention rate for completion of three workshops was 86.6% (n=194), and 83.9% (n=188) for four workshops. The drop rate was 13.4% (n=30), due to loss of contact with the participant, work and family obligations, technology issues, feeling they no longer needed to attend, and illness. Word of mouth (48%) was the highest reported recruitment strategy, followed by media (15%), provider referral (12%), car shows (8%), and participant referral (7%). male-centric events (6%), and health fairs (6%). Conclusion: Word-of-mouth was the most effective recruitment strategy. Findings suggest that a culturally tailored, automotive-themed diabetes education program can successfully engage Hispanic men in diabetes self-management programming Disclosure D.N. Chacon-Portillo: None. G.S. Schober: None. J.B. Concha: None. Funding Texas Department of State Health Services

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Cite This Study

Chacon-Portillo et al. (Fri,) conducted a observational in Diabetes (n=242). The Diabetes Garage program was evaluated on Program start rate and retention rate for completion of four workshops. The car-themed Diabetes Garage education program successfully engaged Hispanic men, achieving a 92.6% start rate and an 83.9% retention rate for completing all four workshops.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a250b0e7def13d035e1b1c9 https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.2337/db26-2743-lb

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