National Health Outreach and Engagement Conference 2024

Authors: Bai Xiong, MS
Authors:Chiquita Chanay, MPH, MCHES

Background  
The University of Missouri Extension Community Health Engagement and Outreach has a goal to improve the health and wellbeing of Missourians at every stage of life.   It is estimated one in three adults aged 18 years or older and nearly half (43%) of adults over 65 have prediabetes. In Diabetes is a major health issue in Missouri, with over 11% prevalence among adults. Individuals and families with the best intentions to adopt healthy behaviors encounter countless social, economic, and environmental factors that reinforce their current lifestyle choices. Through a collaborative partnership with Cox-Monett Hospital, we can address the community's emerging needs with programs focused on well-being and health promotion.   
Objectives  
Participants will understand the background of how this partnership materialized, our planning process, our program impact to date, challenges, best practices and keys to success. The purpose is to evaluate the implementation of the DPP at MU Extension and describe additional partnerships and support impact the program's success.  
 Methods  
 To reduce the incidence and prevalence of pre-diabetes in Barry/Lawrence counties, we partnered with Cox-Monett hospital to identify participants who were overweight or obese adults (18-75 years) with or at high risk for prediabetes. Participants were encouraged to use an internet-based lifestyle intervention for people at risk for type 2 diabetes to support creating healthy habits and monitoring weight and physical activity. The Community Health Engagement and Outreach Program Community Health Field Specialist (CHS) worked across Extension programs with Health and Human Sciences to incorporate Walk with Ease and grocery tours to combine multiple programming for continuous participant engagement.  
 Results   
To date we have had six (6) English speaking cohorts (n= 117) and two (2) Spanish speaking cohorts (n=9). All but one cohort had retention rates higher than 50%, apart from the Spanish speaking cohorts, all cohorts completed at least 22 sessions. An average of 4% weight loss goal and average minimum physical activity range from 7.86 mins/week - 218.72 mins/week.   

Conclusion  
Program success is dependent on a diverse set of strategies to engage participants including integration of the Walk with Ease program, grocery store tours, and cooking demonstrations. MU Extension DPP program is adapting and expanding in different settings to explore strategies for success. Retention among Spanish speaking participants continues to be a challenge, in spite of having a Spanish speaking lifestyle coach.