Application of Teach back mission pattern in health literacy education of elderly patients with metabolic syndrome

Abstract

Objective To investigate the effect of Teach-back mission pattern in the education of elderly patients with metabolic syndrome. Methods A total of 110 elderly patients with metabolic syndrome who were admitted to the hospital from October 2015 to September 2017 were selected as study subjects and randomly divided into observation group and control group with 55 cases each by random digits table method. The control group was given traditional health education, and the observation group was given Teach-back missionary model. After 6 months of follow-up, the health literacy levels of the two groups before and after intervention were measured using the Scale on Health Literacy for Patients with Chronic Disease. The systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), triglyceride (TG), and total cholesterol (TC) levels were compared before and after the intervention of the two groups of patients. Results The cases of loss of contact and withdrawal were removed. In the follow- up period of 6 months, 52 patients and 49 patients in the observation group and the control group completed the study. The scores of the observation group′s information acquisition ability, exchange interaction ability, improvement of health willingness, and economic support willingness were (27.18 ± 4.15), (29.63 ± 4.56), (14.63 ± 2.07), (7.85 ± 1.23) points, respectively. All were significantly higher than the control group (23.96 ± 3.83), (26.34 ± 3.87), (13.04 ± 1.56), (6.91 ± 0.93) points, and the difference was statistically significant (t =3.898-4.339, all P<0.05). During follow-up of 6 months, the awareness rate of disease knowledge and the compliance rate of health behaviors in the observation group were 92.31%(48/52) and 69.39%(34/49), respectively, which were significantly higher than those in the control group, 86.54%(45/52) and 63.27%(31/49). The difference was statistically significant (χ2=8.677, 7.336, P<0.01). During follow-up of 6 months, SBP, DBP, BMI, and WC in the observation group were (135.73 ± 8.53) mmHg(1 mmHg=0.133 kPa), (85.69 ± 8.74) mmHg, (23.76 ± 1.91) kg/m2, (87.13 ± 6.45) cm, respectively, those in the control group were (141.79±7.24) mmHg, (89.45±8.37) mmHg, (24.98 ± 2.03) kg/m2, and (90.13 ± 6.74) cm, respectively,, and the difference was statistically significant (t=2.206-3.831, P<0.05). The FPG, HbA1c, TG, and TC in the observation group were (6.57 ± 0.91) mmol/L, (5.85 ± 1.03)%, (1.71 ± 0.68) mmol/L, and (4.67 ± 0.68) mmol/L, respectively, which were significantly lower than those of the control group. The control group values were (7.24 ± 1.03) mmol/L, (6.46 ± 1.14)%, (1.98 ± 0.63) mmol/L, (4.98 ± 0.72) mmol/L. The difference was statistically significant (t=2.167-3.469, P< 0.05). Conclusions The Teach-back mission pattern can significantly improve the level of health literacy in elderly patients with metabolic syndrome, improve their physical and metabolic indicators, and has important implications for preventing and treating various chronic diseases and improving life quality. Key words: Metabolic syndromes; Elderly; Teach-back; Health literacy