Diabetes poses a serious health problem in the African American community who experience significantly higher rates of diabetes and diabetes complications when compared to Caucasians. The current study evaluated a Diabetes Project implemented by a local community health care center. The goal of the evaluation was to determine the effectiveness of the Diabetes Project in lowering clinical outcomes. There were 216 participants – 143 African Americans, 55 Caucasians, and 18 Other. Twenty one (9.3%) had Type 1 diabetes, and 195 (90.3%) had Type 2 diabetes. The HbA1c, blood pressure (BP - systolic and diastolic), LDL cholesterol, and body weight was measured at baseline and at the last visit. The results showed that three of the five pairwise comparisons were significant – HbA1c, and BP (systolic and diastolic). There were also significant within-in group differences for females and males.

Paper presented to the 5th Annual Symposium on Graduate Research and Scholarly Projects (GRASP) held at the Hughes Metropolitan Complex, Wichita State University, May 1, 2009.Research completed at the Department of Psychology, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences