Abstract
Twenty-eight participants completed an eight week diabetes meal planning program called the Healthy Diabetes Plate (HDP) and Social Media (SM) Project. It focused on (1) ability to plan meals, (2) eating behaviors and self-efficacy, (3) diabetes signs and symptoms and (4) Facebook and Pinterest. Mixed methods –quantitative (Pearson’s chi-square analyses and frequencies) and qualitative analyses (HDP social media pages)–were used. Participant’s knowledge or ability to plan diabetes meals increased from lesson 1 (79%) to lesson 3 (93%). From pre- to post-study, there was a significant increase in the number of participants who found diabetes meal planning to be easy, and a significant increase in their self-efficacy scores, their ability to eat out at restaurants and purchase foods while still following their diabetes meal plan. Fifty percent of participants used SM activities to help them in meal planning (46.4%), finding recipes (28.6%), and (3) assist when dining out (21.4%).