Group-Based Lifestyle Program Beneficial in Prediabetes

Improves healthy eating, physical activity, motivation, mood; reduces waist and weight

MONDAY, Feb. 20 (HealthDay News) -- A group-based diabetes education and lifestyle program is associated with improvements in healthy eating, physical activity, and motivation and mood, and reduces waist circumference and weight in individuals with prediabetes, according to a study published online Feb. 14 in Diabetes Care.

Christine R. Critchley, Ph.D., of the Swinburne University of Technology in Hawthorn, Australia, and colleagues conducted a randomized controlled trial involving 307 adults with prediabetes, to assess the effect of a six-session group-based intervention to promote healthier living. Participants were assigned to receive the intervention (208) or a control (99), and their diet and exercise self-efficacy, motivation to change, knowledge about diabetes, mood, activity levels, healthy eating, waist circumference, and weight were evaluated before and after the intervention.

The researchers found that significant increases in healthy eating and physical activity; decreases in waist circumference and weight; and improved motivation, positive mood, self-efficacy, and knowledge were reported with program participation. The education aspect of the program correlated with increased activity levels by increasing knowledge and improving mood. The psychological variables did not impact eating behavior. Improvement in diet and physical activity directly correlated with changes in waist circumference and weight.

"These results showed that a group-based healthy living course intervention was successful in facilitating improvements in lifestyle behaviors, with concomitant reductions in weight and waist circumference," the authors write.

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