Assessment of type 2 diabetes patients’ self-care status learned based on the national diabetes control and prevention program in health centers of a selected city, Iran

Abstract

Introduction: The Ministry of Health and Medical Education, in line with the National Diabetes Control and Prevention Program, has mandated health centers to implement educational programs among diabetic patients. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of these educational programs on promoting self-care in diabetic patients. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study carried out in Zarand city during the years 2018-2019. A standard questionnaire was used to assess the status of self-care behaviors in diabetic patients. Results: The mean age of the subjects was 58.99 (10.25). Among the self-care behaviors in the studied patients, the highest mean was for foot care and the lowest was for blood glucose monitoring. The mean score of self-care was 41.79 with a standard deviation of 14.54. Based on the mean scores of marital self-care in the study subjects (P<0.001), family history of diabetes (P=0.01), treatment type (P=0.044), and living conditions (P=0.007) There was a significant difference in the studied subjects. Conclusion: Our finingds indicate that using an appropriate educational approach as well as providing educational content appropriate to the target audience can play an important role in promoting self-care behaviors in patients. Therefore, it seems that assessing the level of self-care behaviors can be a great help to the service provider for diabetics. Because in this way, service providers can recognize the educational content and self-care behaviors of the patient and use the appropriate educational approach to promote them.