The National Diabetes Education Program at 20 Years: Lessons Learned and Plans for the Future

Diabetes Care. 2018 Feb;41(2):209-218. doi: 10.2337/dc17-0976.

Abstract

The National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP) was established to translate findings from diabetes research studies into clinical and public health practice. Over 20 years, NDEP has built a program with partnership engagement that includes science-based resources for multiple population and stakeholder audiences. Throughout its history, NDEP has developed strategies and messages based on communication research and relied on established behavior change models from health education, communication, and social marketing. The program's success in continuing to engage diverse partners after 20 years has led to time-proven and high-quality resources that have been sustained. Today, NDEP maintains a national repository of diabetes education tools and resources that are high quality, science- and audience-based, culturally and linguistically appropriate, and available free of charge to a wide variety of audiences. This review looks back and describes NDEP's evolution in transforming and communicating diabetes management and type 2 diabetes prevention strategies through partnerships, campaigns, educational resources, and tools and identifies future opportunities and plans.

Publication types

  • Historical Article

MeSH terms

  • Communication
  • Diabetes Mellitus* / epidemiology
  • Diabetes Mellitus* / prevention & control
  • Diabetes Mellitus* / therapy
  • Health Education* / history
  • Health Education* / methods
  • Health Education* / organization & administration
  • Health Education* / trends
  • History, 20th Century
  • History, 21st Century
  • Humans
  • National Health Programs* / history
  • National Health Programs* / organization & administration
  • National Health Programs* / standards
  • National Health Programs* / trends
  • Public Health Practice / standards
  • United States / epidemiology