Community Web Health Portal for Diabetes Prevention

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Epidemic obesity in the US is driving an epidemic in type 2 diabetes. Given the enormous populations with or at risk for these conditions, far-reaching community interventions are urgently needed. While the efficacy of lifestyle interventions for diabetes prevention has been established in such trials as the Diabetes Prevention Program, the development of interventions to improve dietary and physical activity patterns and thereby prevent diabetes in real-world communities has been elusive. A web-based program predicated on behavior modification theory, and the lifestyle intervention of the DPP, offers large communities cost-effective access to diabetes prevention strategies. Proposed is the development of a diabetes prevention and control community web portal. The portal will feature an innovative personalized impediment profiling tool and reward program. The proposed program, "Nutrition Navigation on-Line Edge," or "NnoLEDGE", will be used by community consortiums for weight loss and diabetic health interventions within their communities. The Specific Aims are: (1) the recruitment of local community organizations to participate as a community health consortium; (2) the development of a comprehensive community health web portal consisting of a navigation core, impediment profiler, community toolbox, and rewards system; and (3) final evaluation of the system with regard to participants attitudes and perceptions of using NnoLEDGE as a tool for weight control and diabetes prevention to determine feasibility. Such technology also offers the promise of financial benefits, specifically the ability to provide ongoing support through fees and financial incentives for residents and community organizations to participate. Successfully piloted in Phase I, the NnoLEDGE program would then progress to Phase II testing, with the ultimate intent of validating a program conducive to widespread replication and dissemination. This line of inquiry promises to develop a program that blends new financial opportunities with progress toward leading health indicators of Healthy People 2010.