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Patients with diabetes, depression benefit from mental health coaching
ORLANDO — Mental health coaching improved mental health scores and lowered glucose levels in patients with diabetes and depression, according to a poster presented at the American Association of Diabetes Educators Annual Meeting.
“While healthy coping is an essential part of diabetes education, mental health coaching takes it to another level for people who struggle with depression. Those who had mental health coaching said it was life-changing, life-saving and helped them feel better and happier than they had in a long time,” Melissa Herman, RD, LDN, CDE, program director of the Diabetes & Nutrition Education Center of FirstHealth of the Carolinas, Pinehurst, NC, said in a press release. “The program was to be piloted for a 2-year period but has been so powerful, we have continued it.”
Melissa Herman
The pilot study looked at 182 patients with type 2 diabetes and depression and offered them mental health coaching. The patients lived in central North Carolina where diabetes prevalence is at 16%; 30% of that portion had depression, and 65% live below the poverty level. The coaching included an average of three visits in which a coach assisted them in identifying stressors and challenges in their lives and finding the tools with which those struggles could be addressed.
Using the Patient Health Questionnaire, the coach scored the patient before and after intervention, showing an average decrease of depressive symptoms by 49% at 3 months. Additionally, HbA1c levels decreased from an average of 8.8% to 7.7% in the same time period.
For more information: Herman M. P23. Presented at: The American Association of Diabetes Educators Annual Meeting 2014; August 6-9, 2014; Orlando, Fla.
Disclosure: Herman reported no relevant financial relationships.