Beauty for Ashes: A Church-Based Diabetes Care Program

The pilot study described here was a test of interventions designed to enhance long-term disease management of African-Americans with type 2 diabetes in faith-based organizations. A quasi-experimental design based on 46 participants was used comparing three interventions: guided imagery, group counseling, and routine care. Unexpectedly, the number of self-reported hypoglycemic episodes significantly increased in the Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT) group, depressive symptoms significantly increased in the guided imagery group, and the mean hemoglobin A1c values did not significantly differ for any group. In future research, the authors will incorporate an interim step investigating the theory of integration (Hernandez, Antone, & Cornelius, 1999) to increase the explanatory power in assessing treatment effects of African-Americans in faith-based organizations.