Today UnitedHealth launched a new online service for its members: a diabetes prevention program, Not Me.
The program is unique for two reasons:
- It puts a negative spin on avoiding diabetes – almost like a person is trying to avoid punishment.
- It incorporates an online TV show that follows six people trying to lose 7 percent of their body weight over 20 weeks.
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I can’t embed the video here so you’ll have to click through to watch it, but the tone is a good one. It mixes themes of personal responsibility – “I let this happen because of the way I’m eating and not exercising,” – as well as the impact of poor health on family members, “When I found out she had lost some weight, I did go in my room and cry about it because I know what that means for our family.”
The coaches seem friendlier that the mean folks on The Biggest Loser and other reality TV shows. Also, at least in the video, they don’t completely gloss over the real-life difficulty of moving more and making good food choices when the loudest messages we hear are about junk food.
Not Me is based on the National Diabetes Prevention Program, which uses evidence-based lifestyle interventions. The program provides a year of support through 16 weekly sessions and 8 monthly maintenance sessions, all available online. It is a community-based program and participants meet as a group.
The program includes:
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- Webinar sessions led by a lifestyle coach
- Personal messages from and online discussions led by your virtual lifestyle coach
- An online community of peers
- A wireless scale that automatically connects to the program website
- Online food and activity tracking
- Interactive online activities and resources to help you build healthier habits.
- Sixteen online episodes of Project NOT ME
It will take some selling to get people to sign up for this – or maybe a carrot/stick approach by employers, but it’s certainly a fresh approach and a welcome change from the scolding, old-fashioned tone of most prevention efforts.
