Scoping Review of Community-Based Interventions to Improve Diabetes Control in Malaysian Adults

Abstract

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a major non-communicable disease globally including Malaysia. Despite a huge amounts of funds spent for the management of T2DM including community-based interventions (CBIs), the national statistics on the prevalence, treatment outcomes and summary measures of these population health have not improved. Thus we conducted a scoping review to map the details of CBI used for diabetes control among adult T2DM in Malaysia. A scoping review that followed the standard PRISMA guideline in conducting and reporting a scoping review was conducted. A search for relevant journal articles were conducted on four electronic databases (PubMed, SCOPUS, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar). The titles and abstract of the search results were screened to select eligible papers for full text retrieval. Eligible papers were those reporting CBI studies of adults diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes mellitus in Malaysia. Only studies using intervention designs were included. Thirteen studies were reviewed and had individually-oriented or group-based interventions, or a combination of both. There was limited adoption of behavioural theories in guiding these diabetes interventions. Outcomes of the interventions were inconsistent. Most studies yielded significant positive results on HbA1c, diabetes knowledge, blood pressure, blood sugar, and foot care practices; few demonstrated positive outcomes on self-efficacy, body mass index, physical activity; self-monitoring of blood glucose, medication adherence, smoking and alcohol consumption. Studies varied in their approaches and yield mixed effects on diabetes control. Nevertheless, most interventions demonstrated reductions of HbA1c, which is the main clinical outcome measured following the CBIs.