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

Cardiac disease and type 2 diabetes are prevalent diseases globally. Cardiac rehabilitation and diabetes self-management programs empower patients' self-management to improve their health outcomes. However, inappropriate delivery modes and continuing low participation rates indicate some programs are less than optimal. A previous study demonstrated the feasibility of incorporating telephone and text messages into a cardiac-diabetes self-management program in Australia; however, the program did not specifically address patients' cultural backgrounds. This current study used a randomized blocked design to evaluate short-term efficacy of the cardiac-diabetes self-management program incorporating telephone and text-messaging across different cultural contexts in Australia and Taiwan in comparison to usual care. No significant differences between groups were observed for outcomes of self-care behavior, self efficacy, knowledge and health-related quality of life, with patients in both groups demonstrating improvements. Patient-reported outcomes indicated some evidence of an interaction effect between country of origin and group allocation. Findings indicated an improved tendency of outcome measures between the baseline and follow-up assessments within usual care and intervention groups. Further research is required to clarify components of the program work for each cultural group.