A Mobile Based Diabetes Prevention Program

The prevalence of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) continues to rise at an alarming rate in the United States. A greater risk of diabetes is observed for ethnic/racial minority and lower socioeconomic status (SES)groups as compared to Caucasians of similar ages. Several clinical trials have tested intensive lifestyle interventions or pharmacologic agents in preventing or delaying T2DM in adults at risk. These trials (e.g.the Diabetes Prevention Program) consistently show impressive diabetes risk reductions using lifestyle interventions, such as relatively modest amounts of weight loss and exercise. However these programs have been expensive to implement and sustain over time in clinical settings or communities. Mobile technologies are ideal platforms to deliver and disseminate such lifestyle modification programs to a much broader ethnic/racial minority population, making them more cost effective. Today, 87% of adults in the U.S. own a mobile phone. In particular, usage of non-voice services (such as text messaging or mobile internet) in African-Americans and non-white Hispanics is significantly higher than their Caucasian counterparts. In contrast, ethnic /racial minority populations are much less likely to own a computer at home compared to their Caucasian counterparts. Given the rapid diffusion of mobile technologies in ethnic/racial minority populations, we need to understand how to apply mobile persuasive technologies to such lifestyle modification programs.