Participants will be recruited from Boston Medical Center and BMC health centers. They will be randomly placed into groups receiving their diabetes education in face-to-face groups at BMC, or receiving it via Second Life while at home.

The online group will receive a computer and access the Internet if necessary. Both groups will participate in 12 diabetes education groups, and four individual counseling sessions. Subjects will complete surveys before and after the study to measure changes in physical activity, diet, and use of medications, and will have blood tests drawn at BMC before and after the study to measure changes in diabetes control and cholesterol. They will also have blood pressure measured before and after the study period. Dr. Wiecha is collaborating with Dr. Milagros Rosal, a Co-Principal Investigator on the project and a research health psychologist at UMASS Medical Center in Worcester.

Source: Boston University Medical Center