OBJECTIVES:

To conduct a systematic review of the diabetes mellitus (DM) self-management interventions conducted by non-pharmacy personnel in Latinos with DM and by pharmacists in patients with DM (all races) at the individual, interpersonal and community levels respectively.

METHODS:

A systematic review was conducted using different computerized databases like Pubmed, Google scholar, Embase and the Cochrane database from inception to March, 2017. Out of the 145 studies whose abstracts or titles were skimmed for this systematic review, 80 studies had theory or non-theory driven DM self-management interventions. Out of those 80 studies, 22 theory based intervention studies were conducted by non-pharmacy personnel (physicians, nurses, diabetes educators, community health workers/promotoras, social workers) in Latinos with DM and 6 theory based intervention studies were conducted by pharmacists in patients (Latinos, non-Latino African Americans, non-Latino Caucasians, non-Latino Native Indians, other races) with DM.

RESULTS:

Among the DM intervention studies, the constructs there were targeted at the individual level were self-efficacy, motivation, positive reinforcement, knowledge, vicarious experiences and performance mastery, at the interpersonal level were social support, social networks, coping, empowerment and social persuasion and at the community level were community engagement, community integration and social cohesion respectively. The studies conducted in Latinos with DM by the pharmacists were mostly targeted at the individual level whereas the studies conducted by non-pharmacy personnel were mostly targeted at the interpersonal and the community levels respectively. The studies reported improvements in clinical parameters, dietary habits, physical activity, medication management, social support and other social factors.

CONCLUSIONS:

Overall, studies that were culturally targeted towards Latinos with DM showed an improvement in DM self-management. Robust interventions backed by theory for chronic disease management salient to non-Latino racial/ethnic minorities like African Americans and Native Americans should be translated in practice to improve the overall quality of healthcare delivered to the minorities.