Published on Show Me Mizzou April 24, 2025
Managing type 2 diabetes often means making significant lifestyle changes, such as eating a healthier diet, exercising regularly and adhering to a medication regimen. Chronic disease management can be stressful, and when you add that to other life stressors such as finances or family issues, sticking to a treatment plan becomes a challenge.
One Mizzou faculty member is working to develop an intervention program to combat this problem after seeing her family and friends struggle to manage their diabetes while experiencing stress.
Idethia Shevon Harvey, associate professor in the Department of Health Sciences, is collaborating with Maude Harris, a University of Missouri Extension field specialist in nutrition and health, on an NIH-funded grant to study the relationship between stress and diabetes management for African Americans in the Missouri Bootheel. Research shows that people living in rural areas, particularly Black Americans, have a higher prevalence of diabetes and a higher rate of morbidity and mortality related to the disease.
“We’re currently interviewing people with diabetes to ask about the types of stressors they’re experiencing and how their health is affected,” Harvey says. “Partnering with [MU Extension] has been instrumental in identifying people to talk to for this project. Maude has lived in the Bootheel for over 40 years and has the vital community connections we need.”
The people being interviewed aren’t just research subjects — they’re considered co-researchers.
“They are helping us design the questions, implement the study, analyze the data and write the manuscript,” Harvey says. “We want to develop interventions that will work well for the population we serve. For example, it’s hard to tell people with diabetes to exercise when they live in a community without sidewalks or a gym. We need their input to create sustainable ways for them to better manage their disease.”
Harvey hopes to secure funding later this year to adapt one of MU Extension’s educational diabetes nutrition programs, Dining with Diabetes, for Bootheel residents based on community input.
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