Effectiveness of the Healthy Diabetes Plate and Social Media Project

Twenty-eight men and women completed an eight week diabetes meal planning program called the Healthy Diabetes Plate (HDP) and Social Media (SM) Project. It focused on (1) ability to plan meals, (2) eating behaviors and self-efficacy, (3) diabetes signs and symptoms and (4) Facebook and Pinterest. Mixed methods-quantitative and qualitative analyses -were used to analyze the data. Quantitative analysis included frequencies and Pearson's chi-square analyses. Qualitative analysis included identifying themes from posts on the Healthy Diabetes Plate (HDP) Facebook and Pinterest pages that were created. Participant's knowledge or ability to plan diabetes meals increased from lesson 1 (79%) to lesson 3 (93%). From pre- to post-study, there was a significant increase in the number of participants who found diabetes meal planning to be easy, and a significant increase in their self-efficacy scores and their ability to eat out at restaurants and purchase foods while still following their diabetes meal plan. Fifty percent of participants participated in the Facebook and Pinterest social media activities. They used it to help them in meal planning (46.4%), finding recipes (28.6%), and (3) assist when dining out (21.4%).