Patient-centred health educational intervention to empower preventative diabetic foot self-care

Abstract

Introduction: Diabetes is a disease in which the body's ability to produce or respond to the hormone insulin is impaired, resulting in abnormal metabolism of carbohydrates and elevated levels of glucose in the body. Due to these factors, diabetes can cause several complications that include heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, eye complications, kidney disease, skin complications, vascular disease, nerve damage and foot problems. Aim: The primary objective of the project was to educate patients who had been diagnosed with diabetes or were being followed up for diabetes management by other departments with regard to their own responsibility in maintaining preventative foot self-care. Educating patients with diabetes to take an active part in their own self-care is the cornerstone of establishing effective diabetes self-management. Diabetes education allows patients to explore effective interventions into living their life with diabetes and incorporate the necessary changes to improve their lifestyle. Method: Ten patients completed a validated educational foot care knowledge assessment pre-test to determine their existing knowledge about their own foot care after a thorough foot assessment. Preventative diabetic foot self-care education was conducted through a lecture, visual aids and a return demonstration. Patients were then subjected to a post-test questionnaire with the same content as the aforementioned pre-test to determine their uptake of the educational content. Results: Correct cutting of toenails was the most identified educational need. It was a limitation in the pre-test (30%) and it remained the lowest scoring item on the post-test (70%). Walking barefoot was thought not to be dangerous by 60% of participants pre-test but, with remedial education, all participants identified this as a dangerous activity post-test. The importance of having corns and calluses looked after by a health professional rather than self-care was also understood to be of high importance. Conclusion: Effective communication with patients by healthcare providers who can mould educational content to the identified patient needs by teaching much needed skills is a key driver in rendering safe, quality-related healthcare educational interventions.