The impact of project diabetes with dignity intervention on knowledge and quality of life among adults with diabetes in a rural Indian setting

Objective: Inadequate knowledge about diabetes leads to its under-diagnosis and sub-optimal control. We studied the impact of project diabetes with dignity (DWD) intervention on knowledge and quality of life (QoL) among adults with diabetes in a rural Indian setting. Methods: DWD was a community-based, quasi-experimental trial conducted with 416 participants (30–70 years) with diabetes across two Primary Health Centers (one intervention; one control) in Western India, over a year. The intervention involved monthly home visits, patient/caregiver, and community-based awareness-raising activities by trained accredited social health activists (ASHAs) workers. Differences in changes in knowledge about: Diabetes, symptoms, management, and complications, and QoL between participants in the intervention versus control areas, from baseline to end-line, were assessed using a questionnaire and analyzed via mixed-effects regression models. Results: About 52% of patients belonged to the intervention group. There was a significant increase in knowledge about diagnosis/management among participants in intervention group (31.48% [95% confidence interval (CI) 24.52–38.43] to 59.55% [52.52–66.58]) versus a decline in the control group (40.73% [33.40–48.07] to 27.95% [19.40–34.50]) (P < 0.001). Similar improvements in intervention group were observed for knowledge about symptoms/complications of diabetes. For QoL, percentage of patients having some self-care problems showed a higher decline in intervention group (29.46% to 6.98%) versus control group (4.85% to 3.55%) (P = 0.005). Reduction in anxiety/depression was significant in the intervention versus control group (P < 0.001). Conclusion: DWD was effective in improving QoL and diabetes knowledge which are key to prevent disease progression/complications in the intervention compared to the control group. Capacity-building of community health workers such as ASHAs, for the prevention and management of diabetes in rural settings, is recommended.