Professional News continued from previous page * Establishing one-on-one contact. Lifestyle coaches reached out to participants on an individual basis to make a personal connection. Establishing personal relationships with participants in this way not only strengthened the group cohesion, but also provided an opportunity to support participants having individual technology issues. In addition to hosting the group sessions, lifestyle coaches took time every 1-2 weeks to make one-on-one connections with participants. * Forming accountability partnerships and naming weekly captains. This strategy involved pairing like-minded participants to help each other remain motivated and accountable between sessions. These partnerships strengthened the cohesion among participants. In addition to assigning accountability partners, some programs scheduled one participant each week to serve as a weekly " captain " to share a healthy recipe or exercise with the entire group. Coaches worked with each captain to ensure that recipes and exercises were appropriate and provided opportunities for the group to share pictures or vides of themselves trying the recipe or workout. These techniques not only improved retention and group cohesion, but also minimized the time and effort required of the lifestyle coaches. These innovative strategies reflect the dedication and commitment of lifestyle coaches to their participants. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought many challenges to lifestyle change programs, but it has also provided programs with the ability to innovate and adapt to unforeseen situations. The strategies developed to address retention and group cohesion challenges related to virtual delivery are useful during periods of social distancing, but can also be used when social restrictions are lifted and programs return to traditional delivery methods. This publication was supported by Cooperative Agreement Number NU58DP006364 03 00, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the Department of Health and Human Services. professional.diabetes.org 9http://professional.diabetes.org/winada http://professional.diabetes.org