Strategies for community participation in diabetes prevention: a Detroit experience.

The African-American community has been disproportionately burdened by diabetes and its associated complications. Nearly 2.8 million African Americans have diabetes. It is essential to increase community participation in diabetes prevention and health promotion as a method to improve health disparities. To address these issues, the Center for Medical Treatment Programs in Diverse Populations (MedTEP) was developed at Henry Ford Health System. The community participatory strategies described in this paper give a framework, which health systems can use to develop community-based partnerships and improve participation of community members in diabetes prevention and diabetes-related research. The strategies include receiving guidance by community leaders, providing a service, establishing partnerships, and disseminating information to the community. It is the goal of the MedTEP Center to continue to further develop and test models of community outreach to determine the most effective approaches to improve health outcomes and sustain the gain in African-American communities.