Pilot Study to Assess the Effectiveness of the Sustainable Culturally Adaptive Nutrition Program (SCAN) to Improve Adherence to the National Diabetes Prevention Program.

Purpose: The Sustainable Culturally Adapted Nutrition Program (SCAN) is a novel adaptation to the National Diabetes Prevention Program (NDPP) that aims to improve attendance and effectiveness. This paper presents its feasibility and impact through the initial 6-month outcomes.

Design: A pragmatic quasi-experimental pilot study with intervention (DPP plus SCAN) and control (DPP only) groups.

Samples and inclusion criteria: Sustainable Culturally Adapted Nutrition Program participants were recruited from federally qualified health center (FQHC) clinic patients enrolled in a NDPP in Houston, Texas. Participants needed to be (1) ≥18 years old, (2) body mass index >25, (3) no prior diagnosis of diabetes, and (4) not pregnant.

Intervention: Sustainable Culturally Adapted Nutrition Program cooking classes were designed to teach skills to prepare fresh produce, and utilized Motivational Interviewing (MI) techniques to encourage participants to adapt these skills for foods that were culturally important to them.

Outcome measures: (1) National Diabetes Prevention Program attendance, (2) BMI and (3) percent weight loss.

Analysis: We used linear mixed models to test the association between weights and NDPP attendance.

Results: 22 intervention and 15 control participants completed the program to the 6-month point. Intervention participants had increased DPP attendance over controls (7.14 vs 6.87 session). Intervention participants also demonstrated on average, 1.5% weight loss for each additional SCAN class attended (P = .144).

Conclusions: The SCAN adaptation shows promising results for effectively increasing both NDPP attendance and weight loss.