Community empowerment model to improve healthy living behaviors in rural areas: qualitative study

Introduction: Limited knowledge is the leading cause of the high prevalence of type 2 diabetes (DM) in rural communities. Community empowerment is one strategy to increase knowledge regarding type 2 diabetes control. This study aims to design a rural community empowerment model to advance knowledge in controlling type 2 diabetes.Methods: The method used was qualitative with an action research design. Data collection included interviews, focused group discussions (FGD), and literature reviews. The participants of study involve the health office and cadres. The criteria for participants is to understand the procedures for preventing non-communicable diseases (NCD’s). Participants were selected using a purposive sampling method. Triangulation and member check to test the validity of the data. The analysis technique used was the N-Vivo software.Results: Four main themes related to the empowerment of rural communities to control type 2 diabetes were found: the DM control model based on community empowerment, cadres as health partners, types of health services in villages, and the families’ roles in increasing the success of controlling DM.Conclusion: Community empowerment can help in controlling type 2 diabetes in rural areas. Suggestions for next investigators is to evaluate the implementation of community empowerment programs in rural for clinical improvement.