Face-to-face Versus Telephone Delivery of the Green Prescription for Maori and New Zealand Europeans With Type-2 Diabetes Mellitus: Influence on Participation and Health Outcomes

• Main Authors: Williams, MH (Author), Cairns, SP (Author), Simmons, D (Author), Rush, EC (Author)
• Format: Others
• Published: New Zealand Medical Association, 2018-01-10T02:27:43Z.
• Subjects: Journal Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext
• Item Description: The New Zealand medical journal, 130(1465), 71-79.; 0028-8446

Aim In Aotearoa/New Zealand, the proportion of Māori who participate in the national Green Prescription lifestyle programme is lower than for New Zealand Europeans. We compared the uptake and effectiveness of two modes of Green Prescription delivery: face-to-face and telephone among both Māori and New Zealand Europeans. Method Sixty-eight Māori and 70 New Zealand Europeans with type-2 diabetes participated in this six-month randomised trial of the two modes of delivery. Recruitment integrated an explicitly Māori culturally sensitive approach. All participants received lifestyle intervention. Anthropometry, blood lipids and glycated haemoglobin were measured before and after the intervention. Results The face-to-face approach (first meeting) yielded 100% uptake into the programme among both Māori and New Zealand Europeans. At six months there were overall reductions in weight (1.8; [95 CI%, 0.6, 2.9kg]), waist circumference (3.7 [2.6, 4.8cm]), and total cholesterol (0.6 [0.3, 0.9mmol/l]) and glycated haemoglobin (3.1 [-0.2, 6.7mmol/mol]). There were no significant differences by mode of delivery, ethnicity or gender. Conclusion The Green Prescription programme resulted in small but clinically favourable improvements in health outcomes for type-2 diabetes patients, regardless of the mode of delivery for both Māori and New Zealand Europeans.