Power to Prevent - National Diabetes Education Program - National ...

Session No. and Title
Session 10
Partner with Your Health
Care Provider
Session 11
Get Your Family and
Friends Involved
Session 12 Celebrate Big
Rewards
Learning Objectives
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
State the questions that a person with diabetes should ask a health provider and how to ask
them
List the goal levels for A1C, blood pressure, and cholesterol
Recognize negative feelings and stress
Cope with feelings and stress in a positive way, especially by involving others
Change negative thoughts into positive thoughts
Demonstrate how small steps have resulted in big rewards
Describe the connection of healthy eating and increased physical activity to weight loss
If possible, the frst six sessions should be scheduled weekly to establish behavior changes; the next
six sessions could then be scheduled monthly. New information and activities are introduced at each
session, and every meeting presents an opportunity to review and reinforce new skills.
Experiences in the DPP study showed that the following recurrent activities are a key to success.
Review of the GAME PLAN Food and Activity Tracker introduced in the frst session
Barrier Busters, in which the group brainstorms about challenges experienced since the last
session.
Making a Pledge (and reviewing the pledge made during the previous session), in which
participants set a short-term, realistic personal goal by pledging to make at least one healthy
change in food and/or physical activity habits before the next session.
OPTIONAL: Affrmation. Some groups fnd that a motivational quote or affrmation that
participants can keep in mind or repeat to themselves between sessions helps them remain
focused. Discussing the affrmation at the end of each session is optional. As program leader, you
may prefer to not use the affrmations at all, to choose different motivational quotes, or to ask the
group members to identify inspirational sayings that keep them going. A list of other motivational
quotes that you might use is included in Appendix H.
OPTIONAL: Additional activities. Depending on the interests of the group, the amount of time
available, your resources, and the feedback that you gather through group discussion and session
questionnaires, you may want to offer additional activities. These extra learning opportunities
can reinforce a message, build skills, and explore new options in healthy eating and increased
physical activity. The additional activities suggested at the end of several sessions are selected to
complement the core information and skills learned in that session but could be added to later
sessions as well. Remember that these optional activities will take additional time (an estimated
30–60 minutes) and usually involve advance planning to arrange a guest instructor or feld trip
logistics.
A further note about Session 6: Depending on the interest of the group, Session 6: Diabetes
Overview, Parts –3 can be given as a very broad, basic overview of diabetes in one meeting, or
it can be conducted in three meetings to allow time for more in-depth discussion. This diabetes
overview is scheduled as the sixth session for several reasons. The frst fve sessions, held weekly,
are needed to establish behavior change patterns and group bonding. Knowledge alone does not
lead to behavior change. The DPP study focused in the beginning on establishing habits of writing
down food choices and the time spent on physical activity and also on making changes. Additional
skills and facts to help support these habits came later. The NDEP recommends following this
approach.
NDEP Power to Prevent Program Leaders Guide 6