A culturally tailored telehealth intervention for South Asian adults with prediabetes or T2DM and their social partners was feasible and associated with improved HbA1c, systolic blood pressure, and physical activity in participants, as well as improved dietary choices and exercise in social partners.
Participant HbA1c levels significantly decreased following the intervention.
Participants showed a significant improvement in systolic blood pressure but not diastolic blood pressure or BMI.
A significantly greater proportion of participants met weekly physical activity guidelines after the intervention.
Social partners demonstrated significant improvements in dietary choices and physical activity without being the direct targets of clinical intervention.
The intervention was a culturally tailored telehealth program delivered in both English and Bengali to South Asian Americans with prediabetes or T2DM.
The authors concluded that including social partners in T2DM prevention and management is feasible and potentially beneficial, but comparative studies are needed.
This research suggests that a culturally tailored health education program delivered via telehealth can improve diabetes-related health outcomes in Bangladeshi Americans living with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. Over six months, 54 participants who attended five one-hour sessions in English and Bengali showed meaningful reductions in blood sugar levels (HbA1c), lower systolic blood pressure, and a large increase in the proportion meeting recommended weekly exercise goals. These improvements occurred without statistically significant changes in BMI or fruit and vegetable consumption among the patients themselves. A distinctive feature of this study was the inclusion of 'social partners'—trusted household members such as spouses and children—who participated alongside the patients. Even though the sessions were clinically focused on the patients, the 106 social partners showed their own health behavior improvements: they ate more fruits and vegetables, drank less soda, and exercised more moderately on a daily basis. This 'spillover' effect suggests that health education reaching one person in a household may positively influence the behaviors of others living with them. This research suggests that leveraging close family and social networks, particularly in tight-knit cultural communities, may be a useful strategy for diabetes prevention and management programs. However, because this was a small pilot study with no comparison group, it is not possible to determine how much of the benefit was due specifically to including social partners versus the health education alone. The authors call for larger, controlled studies to better understand the role social partners play in such interventions.
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Upload Your LabsConnell N, Nasrin S, Amin Z, Akhter N, Ali M, Narayan K, et al.. (2026). Social Partner Effects on Type 2 Diabetes Prevention, Management, and Spillover Health Outcomes: Single-Arm Pre-Post Pilot Intervention.. JMIR formative research. https://doi.org/10.2196/82438