The Development and Effect of a Storytelling Based Diabetes Education Material: Focus on Rural Elderly with Diabetes

Abstract

Background: Health literacy is the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information. It should be considered to make appropriate health education. The aims of this study were to develop the new diabetes education material using storytelling for improving health literacy and to determine the education effects.Methods: A new storytelling based education material was developed using ADDIE (Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement and Evaluate) teaching model. The content was compiled using Korean traditional fairy tales by researchers and a storytelling writer. For determination on effectiveness of education, non-equivalent control group experimental design was used. The participants were 49 rural elders who visiting elderly welfare center;experimental group (25) received education using the new developed material and control group (24) received education using the existing material. The measurement variables for education effectiveness were diabetes health literacy, diabetes knowledge, diabetes self-efficacy and diabetic self-care behaviors. Data were analyzed with SPSS/WIN 21.0 program for mean comparison between two groups.Results: Diabetic health literacy, diabetic self-efficacy, and diabetic self-care behaviors scores were higher in the experimental group than the control group except diabetes knowledge score.Conclusions: Based on research findings, the new education material using storytelling was considered to be easier and more interesting than existing materials for rural elderly to be educated, which improved health literacy more. Using storytelling in health education might be more effective for rural elderly.