Heal-D
Healthy Eating & Active Lifestyles for Diabetes (‘HEAL-D’) Trial
Type 2 diabetes is more common, and develops at a younger age, in people of Black-African and Black-Caribbean heritage in the UK than in people from White ethnic backgrounds. Diabetes can have serious health consequences e.g. blindness and kidney failure, which affect people’s quality of life and cost the NHS a lot of money. One of the most important ways to avoid diabetes complications is to follow a healthy diet and increase physical activity.
We will test a diet and physical activity training and support programme for people of African and Caribbean heritage who have type 2 diabetes to help them manage their condition and avoid diabetes complications. The programme, called ‘Healthy Eating and Active Lifestyles for Diabetes’ (or ‘HEAL-D’), was created with African and Caribbean people with lived diabetes experience to ensure its content is culturally relevant.
We will run the study in South London, West Midlands and Greater Manchester. 300 adults of African and Caribbean descent with type 2 diabetes will be recruited and randomly assigned to one of two groups:
•HEAL-D
•Standard diabetes training
Participants will decide if they want to attend their training course face-to-face or using online video calling facilities. We will collect data from participants for 2 years to measure their diabetes control and other measures such as blood pressure and well-being. We will also assess the value for money of the HEAL-D programme.
For more information visit: www.heal-d.org