The Diabetes Garage: Using Automotive Maintenance Analogies to Engage Mexican-American Men to Participate in a Diabetes Self-Management and Education Program

Mexican-American (MA) men are three times more likely to have diabetes compared to non-Hispanic whites. Despite the availability of diabetes management programs, MA men are underrepresented. The CDC reports that woman (75%) disproportionately participate in diabetes programs compared to men (25%). MA men in particular, have less diabetes knowledge, are less likely to visit a diabetes specialist or adhere to treatments, and are more likely to have complications. Purpose: The Diabetes Garage (DG) is designed to engage MA men in self-management behaviors, improve glycemic and physical health outcomes. Methods: The DG was implemented 2 hours weekly/4 weeks and co-taught by CDCES and automotive technicians. Pre-posttests of self-management behaviors and physical indicators were collected at workshop 1 and at the end of workshop 4. Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank tests were conducted to assess pre-post test differences in behavior (food portion/carbohydrate intake, physical activity) and paired t-tests were conducted to examine differences in health outcomes (i.e., A1c, BP, weight, waist). Results: Data from 2018-2020 (N=74) indicate 77% retention rate. Statistically significant improvements were found in self-reported food portion (Z= -2.030, p <.05) and carbohydrate intake (Z= -2.787, p <.01). Statistically significant improvements were found in systolic BP (t=2.91, mean diff=9.47, p=.01) and improvements in diastolic BP (t=1.41, mean diff=8.18, p =.176). Satisfaction surveys show that men enjoyed the workshops: “The information, the presenters, the diabetes education was totally empowering ⋯ I am looking forward to better managing my diabetes and driving my human-mobile for a long-time...with good quality of life.” Conclusion: Use of automotive maintenance analogies is a feasible approach for engaging men in diabetes management programs, self-management behaviors, and improving health indicators. Disclosure J. B. Concha: None. G. Schober: None. D. N. Portillo: None. R. F. Ruiz: None. R. Ramos: None. R. L. Romero: None. A. Lopez: None. P. Winkler: None. Funding Texas Department of State Health Services