For Health Providers

Group Lifestyle Balance™ Program for Health Providers

The Diabetes Prevention Support Center (DPSC) of the University of Pittsburgh was established with the primary goal of preventing diabetes and improving cardiovascular health. The Diabetes Prevention Support Center is one of the first in the country specifically developed to address the diabetes epidemic through evidence–based prevention intervention programs.

Through a partnership with the military, and with support from the Department of Defense, the DPSC was established to provide prevention services to both military and general populations. Subsequently, the DPSC acts as a central training center for intervention delivery via workshops as well as provision of subsequent post-training support. At the core of these workshops is training in delivery of a one-year group-based, behavioral lifestyle intervention called the Group Lifestyle Balance (GLB) program, which is modeled closely on the original 16-session DPP individual intervention. A DVD of the GLB weekly sessions has also been developed and is currently being evaluated for use in both training of health professionals and as a mode of intervention delivery. The Group Lifestyle Balance program is based on the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) (New England Journal of Medicine, Feb. 7, 2002), a national study funded by the National Institutes of Health, which demonstrated that small changes in lifestyle such as healthy eating and increased physical activity could lower the chances of developing type 2 diabetes in those at high risk for the disease. Making healthy lifestyle changes was also found to reduce risk for the metabolic syndrome (Annals of Internal Medicine 142:611–619, 2005). The evidence–based Group Lifestyle Balance^TM program, adapted from the DPP, is designed to help patients make lifestyle changes to both prevent diabetes and prevent or treat the metabolic syndrome. A two-day training workshop for health professionals has been developed by DPSC faculty in order to provide a comprehensive, standardized overview of the GLB program and its implementation. The DPSC also provides guidance for these trained individuals as they initiate the intervention program in their local setting and as a resource for assistance regarding issues that arise in the course of program delivery.

Additional information for health professionals:

Find a GLB Program: To find a GLB program in your area click here. If there are no programs listed in your area, please contact the Diabetes Prevention Support Center.