Congratulations! By participating as a leader of the Power to Prevent program, you have taken the first step to improve the health of people in your community.

This program is designed to encourage African Americans at increased risk for type 2 diabetes to become more physically active and to eat more healthful foods as a way to prevent or delay the disease. . People with diabetes can also benefit from the program by learning skills that will help them control their blood glucose (sugar) levels.

The curriculum presented in this manual is made up of multiple sessions that can help informal groups and organizations plan, promote, start up, conduct, and evaluate activities that help individuals and families make good nutrition and physical activity part of their daily lives. Included in the manual are health tips, resources, and suggestions for activities that are simple and fun for just one person or for the whole family.

The Power to Prevent manual will guide you in conducting the program in your community. The manual contains the following sections:

• Program Leader’s Guide. This section provides all of the information that leaders will need to prepare the sessions of the curriculum. It is packed with great ideas for all levels of interests and gives step-by-step, easy-to-read instructions to help you develop a program that best reaches your target audience.
• Group Participants’ Guide. This section gives participants an overview of the program. It should be copied and distributed to members of your group.
• Learning Sessions: Lesson Plans for Session Leaders. This section contains lesson plans that give leaders step-by-step guidance for each of the 2 sessions.
• Appendices, composed of multiple appendices that contain materials to be used in individual sessions or that describe materials to be ordered. Many of the educational tools needed for the sessions are also available on the CD-ROM that accompanies this manual. Some can also be downloaded from the Internet or ordered by phone, mail, or fax. Small quantities of the materials are available at no cost or for a small shipping and handling fee.

The best way to begin is to read through all of the sections of the manual to gain a general understanding of the program. Later, when you know more about the people in your group and their reasons for taking part in the program, you can tailor the sessions to fit your group’s needs.

Download Power to Prevent: A Family Lifestyle Approach to Diabetes Prevention

PDF format, 6.3MB, 253Pages.

NDEP African American/African Ancestry Work Group

Foreword:

Diabetes and African Americans
Sometimes it seems as if everyone knows someone who is affected by diabetes. More than in 9 African American adults have diabetes. African Americans are .8 times as likely to have diabetes as non-Hispanic whites of the same age . Researchers estimate that if diabetes continues to increase at its current rate, in 3 children born in the year 2000 will develop diabetes in their lifetime—unless something changes.

Diabetes can cause heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, lower-limb amputations, and blindness, but it doesn’t have to. In many cases it is possible to prevent or delay type 2 diabetes in people at high risk. Scientists who conducted the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) study2 found that people can prevent or delay type 2 diabetes by losing some weight (5–7 percent of their weight), eating a healthy diet (low fat, lower calorie), and increasing their physical activity. High-risk adults who participated in the study’s “lifestyle modification” activities reduced their risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 58 percent; they lost 5 to 7 percent of their body weight ( 0– 5 pounds for a person weighing 200 pounds) by eating a lower fat diet and having a modest, consistent increase in physical activity (e.g., walking 5 days per week, 30 minutes per day).

Dr. James R. Gavin III, past chair of the National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP) and former president of the American Diabetes Association, understands the burden diabetes has placed on the African American community. “Diabetes is a growing epidemic in our communities,” notes Dr. Gavin. “If we are going to make a difference, we need to reach people where they live, work, and play.” This new NDEP curriculum, Power to Prevent: A Family Lifestyle Approach to Diabetes Prevention was developed to help bring diabetes prevention and control to African American communities. The Power to Prevent curriculum is composed of 2 sessions that are designed to help people bring healthier habits into their lives to prevent diabetes. These same skills—eating more healthily and increasing physical activity— can also help people who have diabetes control the disease.

This curriculum is a companion piece to the NDEP Small Steps. Big Rewards. Prevent Type 2 Diabetes campaign to help the African American community take steps to prevent or delay diabetes. Small Steps. Big Rewards includes tip sheets and booklets such as the GAME PLAN toolkit for diabetes prevention. The aim of the Power to Prevent: A Family Lifestyle Approach to Diabetes Prevention curriculum is to guide people in the use of these NDEP tools and to help them support one another in making changes toward a healthier lifestyle. By taking small steps to implement healthy lifestyle behaviors, African Americans can reap big rewards, such as delaying or preventing type 2 diabetes and its complications.

Dr. James R. Gavin III

Comments (0)

Name

Email

Comment

smaller | bigger

Add Comment