Assessing the effectiveness of a diabetes group visit training for health center staff: a pilot study of five Midwestern community health centers

Background: Diabetes group visits are shared appointments that include diabetes education in a group setting and individual visits with a medical provider. An 18-month pilot study was designed to evaluate organizational capacity and staff preparedness in implementing and sustaining diabetes group visits. Results: Data were collected and analyzed from pre-post assessments and key informant interviews with community health center (CHC) staff (N = 26) from teams across five Midwestern states. Overall, participants demonstrated high baseline knowledge and awareness about diabetes group visit implementation. Changes in attitudes and practices did occur pertaining to familiarity with billing and increased awareness about potential barriers to diabetes group visit implementation. Key assets to diabetes group visit implementation were access to pre-designed resources and materials, a highly motivated team, and supportive leadership. Key obstacles were socioeconomic challenges experienced by patients, constraints on staff time dedicated to group visit implementation, and staff turnover. Conclusions: Results of the study provide a framework for implementation of diabetes group visit trainings for CHC staff. Future research is needed to assess the training program in a larger sample of CHCs.

Automated summary

This study evaluated the organizational capacity and staff preparedness for implementing and sustaining diabetes group visits in community health centers. The participants showed high baseline knowledge and awareness about diabetes group visit implementation. Changes in attitudes and practices were observed, including increased familiarity with billing and awareness about potential barriers. The key assets for implementation were access to pre-designed resources, a motivated team, and supportive leadership, while obstacles included socioeconomic challenges, time constraints, and staff turnover.