The creation and impact evaluation of "your guide to diet and diabetes," an interactive web-based diabetes tutorial

Background: Millions of Americans turn to the Internet for health information. A need for a comprehensive website that provides information on diet and diabetes management was identified. Therefore, the goal of this study was to develop an easy-to-use website that provided accurate information about diet and diabetes management in an interactive format that was widely accessible. Methods: The "Your Guide to Diet and Diabetes" website was developed through issue identification, expert panel review, and face validity phase for content and knowledge/skill assessment surveys. During the first 2 weeks of the website's availability, impact data were collected from website visitors. Responses to demographic questions, knowledge, and skill questions were collected in a database. Results: Of the 406 individuals who completed a demographic question, a maximum of 104 respondents chose to answer one or more of the interactive knowledge or skills questions. Conclusions: "Your Guide to Diet and Diabetes" filled a need for an easy-to-use website that addressed the issues of diet and diabetes. Based on the number of visits to the login page (n = 6,124) and number of individuals who answered demographic questions, the site was well received. While a smaller group of participants elected to complete the interactive knowledge and skills questions, responses to these questions demonstrated that participants obtained knowledge from the website. In particular, participants increased their knowledge of food sources and appropriate serving sizes of carbohydrate. The "making a plate" skill activity was used with much greater frequency than the more conceptually complex carbohydrate counting skill activity.