Summary: In adults with type 2 diabetes, an eight-session lifestyle-based health promotion programme improved health behaviours and reduced irrational health beliefs and maladaptive eating compared with no treatment, with gains maintained at three months.
PICO Summary
| Element | Detail |
|---|---|
| Population | 90 adults with type 2 diabetes (convenience sample), randomised 45:45. |
| Intervention | Eight 90-minute group sessions of a lifestyle-based health promotion intervention. |
| Comparison | No-treatment control group (n=45). |
| Outcome | Significant improvement in health-promoting behaviours and reductions in irrational health beliefs and maladaptive eating at post-test and 3-month follow-up (P<0.01). No glycaemic endpoints measured. No side effects reported. |
Expert Commentary
So much of what determines whether my patients do well with type 2 diabetes happens between appointments, in beliefs and eating habits I rarely have time to address, so I am sympathetic to any structured attempt to tackle that substrate directly. The trial shows what I would expect: a focused behavioural programme shifts self-reported behaviours and beliefs. My verdict is mildly positive but heavily qualified, because the methodology leaves real room for doubt. The comparator was no treatment rather than an attention-matched control, so some of the benefit is almost certainly the effect of simply being given time and attention, and every outcome was a self-reported questionnaire rather than anything I can measure in clinic. Crucially, there is no HbA1c, weight, or other metabolic endpoint here, so I cannot say this changes the disease, only that it changes how people describe their habits. Can I use this with my patients? Yes, in the sense that it reinforces referring to structured diabetes self-management education, which I already value, rather than relying on rushed advice. I would want a trial with an active comparator and hard glycaemic outcomes before claiming more than that.
References
Kolahdouzan MS, Abed M. The effect of lifestyle-based health promotion intervention on health behaviour, irrational health beliefs, and eating behaviour of patients with type 2 diabetes. Health Educ Res. 2025;40(5). doi:10.1093/her/cyaf035