The Effectiveness of Diabetes Self-Management Educational for Adults with Uncontrolled Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in a Primary Care Setting

Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus is a fast-growing global problem with vast social, health, and economic consequences. Approximately 382 million people worldwide have been diagnosed with the disease, and this number is expected to increase by 55% by 2035. Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States. More than 34 million Americans have diabetes, including 2.4 million cases in Florida. The goal of this project was to improve the effectiveness of diabetes self-management information on selection of healthy carbohydrate-containing foods and blood glucose monitoring in a group of adults with uncontrolled type 2 diabetes receiving care in a primary care setting. Education from the National Diabetes Education Program using the 4 Steps to Manage Your Diabetes for Life along with follow up phone calls, a pre- and-post Diabetes Self-Management Questionnaire (DSMQ) were administered to ten participants (6 females and 4 males 64-85 years of age) at a primary care site. Descriptive statistics and paired sample T-tests were used to analyze data on the DSMQ pre-and post-intervention. Results were statistically significant and showed that selection of healthy carbohydrate-containing foods and blood glucose monitoring increased in all ten (100%) participants from pre to post intervention. Data analysis showed that the pre-mean selection of healthy carbohydrate-containing foods was 5.3 out of 12 (SD, .675) and a post mean of 10.4 out of 12 (SD, .843) [t(9) = 16, p<.001. In addition, data analysis showed the mean of blood glucose monitoring increased from 4.4 out of 15 (SD, 1.075) on the pre-test to 12.3 out of 15 (SD, .675) on the post-test [t(9) = 18, p<.001]. The increase in the scores reflect the participants’ ability to choose foods that are congruent with healthy eating habits. It is strongly recommended that the 4 Steps to Manage Your Diabetes for Life booklet be used in practice to improve patients’ knowledge and self-management behaviors regarding diabetes.