University of Michigan

The Institute for Leadership (IFL), a nonprofit organization whose mission is to develop leadership capacity at faith-based organizations, leads the NYHealth Diabetes Campaign’s Faith Fights Diabetes initiative.

The purpose of this initiative is to spread the implementation of Defy Diabetes, a six-week diabetes prevention and management program, in places of worship across New York State. IFL will assess the program to understand its overall impact, including strengths and weaknesses of the leadership consortium developed under this initiative; characteristics of congregations that have been successful in establishing the program; and elements associated with both programmatic and behavior outcomes. NYHealth funded the University of Michigan’s Department of Medical Education (U-M) to develop and establish the reliability and validity of two survey questionnaires designed to the program.

U-M staff worked with NYHealth and IFL staff to review existing diabetes-related surveys and establish a set of survey parameters. U-M then developed the initial drafts of the volunteer and participant surveys. It piloted test each survey at four sites, and reviewed and discussed pilot test results with NYHealth and IFL staff. Results included changes in participants’ health knowledge and behavioral changes as a result of the program as well as their experience with the trainings, materials, and support received while participating in the program. In the final stage of the grant, the reliability and validity of the data obtained from the surveys and focus groups was tested. The data was compiled into a report for IFL and NYHealth; its use helped determine the extent to which program participants learned about diabetes and experienced health improvements.