Abstract
The aim of this research and development study was to develop model of lifestyle intervention for
preventing type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) among the high-risk population. The Diabetes Prevention Program
(DPP) was designed to modify the lifestyle through seven meetings (in 16 weeks) organized by the
researcher team and the public health nurses of the Sub-district Health Promoting Hospitals. The education
and the empowerment program consisted of healthy diet, physical activity, stress management, DM
risk assessment, and goal setting of health behaviors. The participants were selected from the diabetes high-risk group in the local community, Kudjub district, Udonthani province, Thailand. The intervention
participants were encouraged to match a buddy for coaching each other for 16 weeks of the applied DPP.
Quasi-experimental study was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the model. The outcome measures
were the body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), fasting blood sugar (FBS), health behaviors,
and the satisfaction of the applied DPP. Sixty participants that consisted of 30 intervention participants
and 30 controls were included. After 16 weeks of the intervention, the adjusted mean difference of the FBS
(90.1 mg/dl for the intervention group vs 95.3 mg/dl for the controls) and the BMI (25.7 kg/m2 vs 29.1
kg/m2) were not statistically significant between the two groups. The WC was significantly decreased
among the intervention group compared to the controls (mean difference = 5.9 cm; 95% CI = 2.4-9.4).
Health behaviors (mean difference = 3.6 score; 95% CI = 0.3-6.9 ) and the knowledge (mean difference = 2.0
score; 95% CI = 0.6-3.4) were significantly increased among the intervention group compared to the controls.
Collectively, 96.7% of the intervention group was satisfied with the applied DPP at the high to the
highest levels. The lifestyle program indicated significant improvement of the WC and the health behaviors
and could contribute to prevent the type 2 DM in the local community.
