Abstract
Background: Health education has proven to be an effective strategy to enable people with diabetes mellitus to manage this condition. However, few studies in Brazilian population samples have been conducted to evaluate the effects of educational programs on diabetes knowledge and self-care. Aim: To evaluate the knowledge about diabetes mellitus and the performance of self-care activities, before and after participation in an educational program. Methods: This is an intervention study, with a quantitative approach, in a single comparison group, for the analysis of “before and after” results related to an educational program focused on self-care and concurrent physical training. The study interventions consisted of 42 exercise sessions, as well as individual educational meetings, according to the needs of each participant and through nursing consultations, using educational material prepared from the literature. The sample was initially composed of 33 adults with diabetes mellitus, but 18 completed the study. For the assessment of knowledge and self-care activities, the revised Brazilian versions of the Diabetes Knowledge Scale and the Diabetes Self-Care Activity Questionnaire were used, respectively, in the two moments of the study, that is, prior to the first educational meeting and immediately before the first physical training session, and after the last educational meeting, which ran parallel to the 42nd physical training session, making a six-month interval between the two assessment moments for each participant. Results: The analysis of knowledge about diabetes showed significant improvement after the educational program and, as for self-care, there was clinical improvement in all dimensions, but only the dimension “general diet” obtained statistically significant improvement. Conclusion: The educational program has been shown to be beneficial for improving knowledge and self-care of the disease, which reiterates the need to maintain interventions of this nature for people with diabetes mellitus.
Highlights
Diabetes mellitus (DM) has been noted for its high worldwide prevalence among chronic diseases that, when not properly treated, lead to complications [1]
For the assessment of knowledge and self-care activities, the revised Brazilian versions of the Diabetes Knowledge Scale and the Diabetes Self-Care Activity Questionnaire were used, respectively, in the two moments of the study, that is, prior to the first educational meeting and immediately before the first physical training session, and after the last educational meeting, which ran parallel to the 42nd physical training session, making a six-month interval between the two assessment moments
The results of the present study show, a significant improvement of knowledge about the disease and its treatment, which was not observed for most self-care activities with DM
Summary
Diabetes mellitus (DM) has been noted for its high worldwide prevalence among chronic diseases that, when not properly treated, lead to complications [1]. A literature review study on the education of people with chronic diseases points out that the first stage of an educational program is evaluative. This includes an assessment of cognition, prior knowledge and possible misconceptions as well as attitudes, motivation, skills and learning style. Few studies in Brazilian population samples have been conducted to evaluate the effects of educational programs on diabetes knowledge and self-care. Aim: To evaluate the knowledge about diabetes mellitus and the performance of self-care activities, before and after participation in an educational program. For the assessment of knowledge and self-care activities, the revised Brazilian versions of the Diabetes Knowledge Scale and the Diabetes Self-Care Activity Questionnaire were used, respectively, in the two moments of the study, that is, prior to the first educational meeting and immediately before the first physical training session, and after the last educational meeting, which ran parallel to the 42nd physical training session, making a six-month interval between the two assessment moments
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