Cardiac-diabetes self-management program for Australians and Taiwanese: A randomized blocked design study.

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Endocrinology
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Cardiac disease and type 2 diabetes are major global health concerns.
• Existing self-management programs face challenges with delivery modes and patient participation.
• Previous research showed feasibility of a telephone and text-based program but lacked cultural adaptation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the short-term efficacy of a culturally adapted cardiac-diabetes self-management program.
• To compare a telephone and text-messaging intervention with usual care in Australia and Taiwan.
• To assess impacts on self-care behavior, self-efficacy, knowledge, and quality of life.

Main Methods:

• Randomized blocked design study.
• Intervention group received a cardiac-diabetes self-management program via telephone and text messages.
• Control group received usual care.
• Data collected in Australia and Taiwan across diverse cultural contexts.

Main Results:

• No statistically significant differences were observed between the intervention and usual care groups for key outcomes.
• Both groups demonstrated improvements in self-care behavior, self-efficacy, knowledge, and quality of life from baseline to follow-up.
• Patient-reported outcomes suggested a potential interaction effect between country of origin and group allocation.

Conclusions:

• The integrated telephone and text-messaging program showed a similar short-term efficacy to usual care across cultural groups.
• Further research is needed to identify specific program components effective for distinct cultural contexts.
• Improvements were noted within both intervention and usual care groups, highlighting the importance of ongoing patient support.