September 10, 2025
3 min read
Key takeaways:
- Adults enrolled in a diabetes prevention program tailored toward Chinese Americans reported high satisfaction.
- Future research will examine whether the program confers significantly reduced body weight.
A diabetes prevention program that included weekly culturally tailored videos and biweekly calls with bilingual community health care workers improved health care engagement for Chinese Americans, researchers reported.
In a poster presentation at the Association of Diabetes Care & Education Specialists annual meeting, researchers unveiled the mHealth diabetes prevention program, an intervention aimed at providing diabetes prevention education specifically for Chinese Americans. Lu Hu, PhD, assistant professor in the section for health equity, department of population health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, NYU Langone Health, said several barriers can prevent Chinese Americans from seeking medical care, and researchers wanted to develop a program that incorporates principles from the Diabetes Prevention Program and adapts them for this population.
Data were derived from Xu X, et al. Poster #206. Presented at: ADCES25; Aug. 8-11, 2025; Phoenix.
“As a first-generation Chinese immigrant, I personally experienced the difficulties of navigating the U.S. health care system, even with proficient English skills,” Hu told Healio. “Based on many national studies, I also learned that Asian Americans face a high burden of diabetes, yet they are often overlooked in research because of their relatively low BMI. Chinese Americans have the highest rates of undiagnosed diabetes. Many face language, financial and cultural barriers that prevent them from seeking timely medical care.”
Lu Hu
Researchers developed a 3-month intervention that addressed a range of diabetes-related topics, including physical activity, cooking and eating healthy foods, managing stress, navigating the health care system and more. The intervention included weekly videos, biweekly calls with community health workers where participants would set goals and fresh produce provided for 10 weeks. Hu said the program was designed to address all the major barriers Chinese Americans face in diabetes care.
“First, we culturally and linguistically tailored all Diabetes Prevention Program curricula to ensure they were accessible and relevant to Chinese Americans,” Hu said. “Second, we simplified the content using lay language in video format to overcome health literacy challenges. Third, we delivered the program through a widely used social media platform, sending videos as text message links. This format helped participants with limited digital literacy and busy schedules, allowing them to watch and rewatch the videos at their convenience.”
High satisfaction with intervention
Researchers conducted a two-arm randomized controlled trial enrolling 150 Chinese Americans with a BMI of 23 kg/m2 or higher who were deemed to be at risk for type 2 diabetes (median age, 49 years; 82.7% women). Participants were randomly assigned to participate in the intervention or to a control group. Follow-up was conducted at 3 and 6 months.
Of the study participants, 98.7% were born outside of the U.S., and 85.3% said they had limited proficiency in speaking English.
Among the intervention group, the mean weekly video watch rate was 72%, and 81% of adults completed biweekly calls with community health care workers. At 3 months, 88% of participants assigned to the intervention group were still enrolled in the program.
At 6 months, intervention participants reported high satisfaction for all questions. Of the group, 97% said they “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that they would recommend the program to family or friends, all participants reported that the program increased their confidence to prevent diabetes, 91% said the program motivated them to lose weight and 98% stated they “agreed” or “strongly agreed” they would join similar programs in the future.
Future research
Hu said researchers are analyzing data for more outcomes related to health, including change in body weight, healthy eating habits and physical activity. She said the goal of the analysis is to determine whether the intervention can significantly reduce body weight compared with controls.
Hu added that her team is currently leading another study to adapt and implement this program for other underrepresented populations in the U.S.
“This intervention is highly scalable because it is delivered entirely remotely, it can be easily implemented in other Chinese American communities with minimal local adaptation,” Hu said. “Furthermore, the program structure is flexible enough to be translated and tailored for other racial and ethnic groups, such as Hispanic Americans. We are already leading a larger study to expand this work to additional populations.”
For more information:
Lu Hu, PhD, can be reached at lu.hu@nyulangone.org.
Sources/Disclosures
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Xu X, et al. Poster #206. Presented at: ADCES25; Aug. 8-11, 2025; Phoenix.
Disclosures:
Hu reports receiving funding from the American Diabetes Association to conduct the study.
