The studies for this thesis were carried out from 1977 to 1982 in the Department of Social. and Preventive Medicine at the Commonwealth Institute of Health within the University of Sydney, under the supervision of Professor Charles B. Kerr. The planning and implementation of the randomised controlled trial were conducted under the supervision of Professor Walter 0. Spitzer, former director of the Clinical Epidemiology and Evaluation Unit of the Royal North Shore Hospital of Sydney. Fieldwork for both studies was carried out at that hospital in collaboration with the Diabetes Education and Assessment Programme, under the direction of Dr. Martyn J. Sulway
