Study population
A detailed study design of The Copenhagen Type 2 Diabetes Rehabilitation Project have been published elsewhere [17]. Patients were recruited between August 2006 and February 2008 from our local outpatient clinic and general practitioners and by posting advertisements in local newspapers. Key inclusion criteria were: known or newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes, baseline HbA1c value between 6.8% and 10.0%, and ability to read and understand the Danish language. Key exclusion criteria were age less than 18 years, severe heart, liver or kidney disease, foot ulcers, and incurable cancer. Patients gave informed consent to participate in the study, which conformed to the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki, after which a baseline HbA1c was drawn. Patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria were randomised within three weeks stratified by gender and age. A person not participating in the study created a randomisation list. The investigator randomised and stratified the patients at the baseline visit using consecutively numbered sealed envelopes marked with gender (male or female) and age (< 55 years or > = 55 years). Patients were randomised to the group-based rehabilitation programme (rehabilitation group) at Healthcare Centre Østerbro or to the individual counselling programme (individual group) at the Diabetes Outpatient Clinic, Bispebjerg University Hospital. Neither patients nor study personnel were blinded to treatment assignment.
Interventions
The group-based rehabilitation programme, conducted at a primary health care centre, was founded on evidence-based clinical guidelines [18] and emphasized a multidisciplinary approach. The programme used empowerment-based principles and goal-setting involving patient collaboration in order to improve the patients' knowledge and self-awareness [15]. Before patients entered the programme they participated in a motivational interview and set personal goals. Personnel were trained and supervised in the use of the motivational interviewing technique by an expert psychologist [19].
The programme consisted of an educational component of 90-minutes group sessions held weekly for a total of six weeks. Sessions were limited to eight patients and were taught by a nurse, a physiotherapist, a podiatrist, and a dietician. The educational curriculum included: the pathophysiology of diabetes, blood glucose self-monitoring, dietary instructions, the importance of physical activity, weight loss and smoking cessation, neuropathy, foot examinations, hypertension, complications, and medications [18]. A 12-week supervised exercise component consisted of 90-minutes sessions twice a week that included both aerobic and resistance exercise. The sessions were group-based, but a physiotherapist tailored an individual exercise programme for each patient. Dietary education included two three-hour group-based cooking classes and one two-hour session in a local supermarket.
The education, exercise, and dietary interventions could overlap and their sequence could differ from patient to patient. Goal achievement was evaluated in collaboration with the patients at the end of the intervention programme and one and three months after programme completion by telephone contacts.
The individual counselling programme, conducted at the diabetes outpatient clinic at Bispebjerg University Hospital, was based on the same clinical guidelines and the empowerment approach as in the primary health care centre [15, 18]. The programme consisted of individual consultations with a diabetes nurse specialist, a dietician, and a podiatrist over a period of six months. All patients consulted the same nurse and dietician.
Patients participated in four one-hour sessions of individual counselling with a diabetes nurse specialist, who had a bachelor's degree in education and was trained in motivational interviewing [19]. Using the patients' own stories patients received personalized information and guidance about type 2 diabetes, medications, risk factors, and late complications, blood-glucoses self-monitoring, and increasing physical activity to the recommended level of 30 minutes of daily exercise. Over the same time period, patients participated in three individual counselling sessions with a dietician who was also trained in motivational interviewing [18]. At the initial hour-long visit, patients set personal goals and, in collaboration with the dietician, developed a dietary plan based on biochemical, anthropometrical and medical records and patients' motivation and attitudes. The action plan, progress towards meeting it, and goals were evaluated at the two follow-up visits, each of which lasted 30 minutes.
The endocrinologist or general practitioner caring for patients in both interventions prior to the study continued to provide diabetes management during and after the intervention; however, they were not part of the study team.
Measurements
Patients filled in two self-administered questionnaires at baseline and at completion of the intervention. Patients were briefly provided with instructions on how to answer the questions.
The Medical Outcome Study 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36 version 1.0) is a multi-purpose, short-form health survey with 36 questions that measure 8 conceptual domains: physical functioning, physical limitation, bodily pain, general health, vitality, social functioning, emotional limitation, and mental health [20]. The raw scores in each domain were transformed into 0 to 100 scales by the following calculation: (actual score - lowest possible score)/(possible score range) × 100. A higher score on SF-36 indicates better quality of life. The SF-36 has been proven useful in surveys of general and specific populations, comparing the relative burden of diseases, and in differentiating the health improvements produced by a wide range of different treatments [21]. The questionnaire has been translated into Danish and thoroughly validated in a Danish population [22].
As the SF-36 questionnaire is a generic measure, as opposed to one that targets a specific disease or treatment group, we included a diabetes specific questionnaire as a supplement. The Diabetes Symptom Checklist - Revised (DSC-R) is a self-report questionnaire measuring the occurrence and perceived burden of diabetes-related symptoms [23]. The DSC-R consists of 34 questions grouped into 8 symptom subscales: hyperglycaemia, hypoglycaemia, psychological cognitive functioning, psychological fatigue, cardiovascular symptoms, neuropathic pain, neuropathic sensory, and ophthalmologic functioning. Patients indicate whether they experienced any of the listed symptoms during the past month. For each symptom experienced, patients indicate the extent to which these symptoms were burdensome (ranging from "not at all", coded as 1, to "extremely", coded as 5). The eight subscale scores were calculated by summating the item scores, divided by the number of items of that subscale. A total symptom score was calculated from responses from all item score divided by 34. A lower score on DSC-R indicates less psychological and physiological distress. The DSC-R has been described to be valid, reliable and responsive to change and to be the only scale that appears to evaluate physical functioning in type 2 diabetes patients in a broad, comprehensive manner [24, 25].
If patients skipped a question in the questionnaires the missing value was calculated as an average of rest of the values in the particular domain or subscale. A detailed description of the recorded demographic, laboratory, and clinical parameters has previously been published [16].
Statistical analyses
The sample size calculation was based on the primary outcome (HbA1c) in the study. Using a target between-group absolute difference in HbA1c of 0.7%, a standard deviation of 1.3%, a power of 0.9, and a two-sided α of 0.05, we calculated a necessary sample size of 80 patients in each group. However, due to time and resources constraints, we were able to randomize 70 patients to the rehabilitation group and 73 patients to the individual group.
All available data were used in the analysis. Since 24 patients did not complete the baseline questionnaires it was not possible to include them in the intention-to-treat analysis. Hence, an intention-to-treat analysis was performed including patients lost to follow-up.
Differential changes between the two groups were analysed using a two-way analysis of variance with adjustment for baseline values in SAS, version 9.1 (Cary, NC). The study statistician performing the data analyses was blinded to patients' assignment to the rehabilitation group or individual group. Statistical significance level was set at p < 0.05.
Statement of ethics
The Danish National Committee on Biomedical Research Ethics and the Danish Data Protection Agency approved the study protocol. ClinicalTrials.gov registration number: NCT00284609.