155 Post-intervention Assessments in the Couple-Based Diabetes Prevention Pilot Trial

The United States has the third largest number of persons in the world with type 2 diabetes diagnosis (Hu et al., 2016). In an effort to delay or prevent the progression of this disease amongst adult individuals who are at higherrisk for type 2 diabetes, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed the National Diabetes Prevention Program (NDPP) in 2010 (Albright, 2012). This evidence-based national prevention program is a year-long lifestyle intervention aiming at 5% weight loss and an increased physical activity of at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA). These goals are well supported given the direct link between body weight and the incidence of type 2 diabetes. Although NDPP has been widely implemented for prediabetic individuals, low enrollment and retention rates continue to limit the reach and success of the program. To addressthese issues, the HEART Lab, where I am a research assistant, created PreventT2 Together, an adaptedversion of the 2021 NDPP curriculum intended for couple-based delivery (Whitaker et al., 2023). This adapted version considers relationship dynamics for primary prevention of type 2 diabetes by leveraging close relationships to facilitate the implementation of interventions in real-world settings.

The pilot trial began in January 2023 to examine whether delivering the adapted PreventT2 Together National DPP curriculum to couples will lead to greater engagement with lifestyle change and maintenance, compared to delivering to only the high-risk partner. 12 couples were randomly assigned either to the CDC’s individual-based curriculum (PreventT2; 6 couples) or the adapted couple-based curriculum (PreventT2 Together; 6 couples). Upon completion of the pilot trial in January 2024, our team conducted post-intervention assessments. Out of 24 participants, two participants dropped out during the baselineassessment, therefore a total of 22 participants (11 couples) were involved in the 7-day post-intervention assessment. A point-of-care A1C test was administered and participants’ weight was measured. They were thengiven an initialized actigraph for 7 days. Actigraph is an activity monitoring device (accelerometer device) used to measure moderate to vigorous physical activities (MVPA) of participants. During the 7 days, our team also distributed daily self-report questionnaires, and participants’ daily responses were reviewed for completeness. A total of 24 and21 actigraph data sets were downloaded and cleaned for baseline and post respectively via ActiLife software. During post-intervention data cleaning, one actigraph was physically damaged and has been sent to Actilife fordata extraction. Cleaned data was used to calculate partcipants’ MVPA. Preliminary results suggest point-of-care A1C & Actigraph MVPA assessments were feasible for study participants.

The data collected from post-intervention assessment was comprised of point-of-care A1C test results, weight measurement, 7 daily self-report data, and actigraph monitoring data (baseline and post intervention). PreventT2 Together considers relationship dynamics for primary prevention of type 2 diabetes by leveraging close relationships to facilitate the implementation of interventions in real-world settings. A crucial first step towards implementation isto examine the feasibility and acceptability of the couple-based diabetes prevention pilot trial. For future direction, itis anticipated that differences between PreventT2 and PreventT2 Together in a larger trial is examined using these measures.