[The effects of a practical diabetes prevention training course for public health care providers in Aichi Prefecture]

Lifestyle intervention for high-risk people is one of the most important issues for reduction of diabetic patients. Public health care providers should update their knowledge and enhance their educational skills. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a diabetes prevention training course for public health care providers in Aichi Prefecture.

This course included not only lectures about up-to-date knowledge about diabetes but also many practical aspects such as lifestyle assessment and coaching methods. The participants were made aware of an adequate diet by choosing foods in nutrition sessions, and they experienced walking and aerobic exercise with heart-rate monitors and pedometers in an exercise program. They also learned how to interview and provide health guidance to impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) people through role play. There were 373 participants from 90% of municipal health care centers in Aichi Prefecture. We made inquiries about the effectiveness of this practical training course immediately after the training period and 6-months later for all participants. In follow-up inquiries, we asked if the knowledge obtained in this training course had been useful and had improved their services.

The aim and methods were well-accepted by more than 90% of participants. The follow-up examination (6 month later) showed improvement with reference to teaching methods (60%), evaluation of the diabetes prevention service (53%), cooperation with other facilities (48%) and survey on municipal health problems related to diabetes (48%). New methods, which they experienced in this course, were adopted in their own services in many municipalities. Many municipal health care centers started the diabetes individual health promotion program, because the health care providers got aware of importance of diabetes prevention by attending this training course.

In order to make effective interventions, public health care providers should obtain up-to-date knowledge about diabetics and educational skills. Administrative organ can play important roles in diabetes prevention by training public health care providers and setting up a network between related facilities.