Participation in the Journey to Life Conversation Map Improves Control of Hypertension, Diabetes, and Hypercholesterolemia.

BACKGROUND: The Diabetes Conversation Map program includes 4 "board game-like" education tools. We describe how the Journey to Life Conversation Map Education Class improves diabetes performance measures of hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and blood pressure (BP).
METHODS: Retrospective case-control study in a military family medicine clinic from January 2007 to January 2010. We included 202 patients who completed ≥1 conversation map class and a comparison group of 209 patients who did not attend.
RESULTS: Attendees started with HbA1c 8.25 (95% confidence interval [CI], 7.86-8.64) and decreased to 6.96 (95% CI, 6.69-7.23). Patients in the comparison group started at 8.57 (95% CI, 8.18-8.95) and decreased to 8.27 (95% CI, 8.01-8.54) (P < .001). Attendees began with LDL of 111 mg/dL (95% CI, 103-119) and decreased to 94 mg/dL (95% CI, 81-106). Patients in the comparison group started at 89 mg/dL (95% CI, 81-98) and increased to 98 mg/dL (95% CI, 85-110) (P < .007). Systolic BP decreased 5.4 mmHg among attendees versus 0.8 mmHg among those in the comparison group (P = .014), whereas diastolic BP was unchanged (P = .110).
CONCLUSION: The Journey to Life Healthy Interactions Conversation Map Education Class for diabetes improves diabetes performance measures. © Copyright 2015 by the American Board of Family Medicine.