Evaluation of Effectiveness of Educational Programme on Diabetes and Insulin Therapy

Diabetes is a chronic progressive disease that requires lifestyle changes, especially in the areas of nutrition and physical activity. Careful management and insulin therapy results in the best possible blood glucose levels to avoid complication. The objective of the study was to provide the diabetic patients with an understanding of insulin therapy. Type I and type II diabetic patients (N= 25 in each group) taking insulin therapy were selected. Awareness regarding diabetes and insulin therapy was evaluated through personal interaction and questionnaire for the study. It was found that 12 per cent subjects had high awareness level and 26 per cent and 62 per cent subjects were observed to have average and low awareness, respectively. An educational programme was worked out to educate the patients about insulin therapy. The patients were given counseling through several sessions for a period one month .At the end of counseling session's degree of awareness and diabetes management was revaluated. A remarkable increase in awareness, understanding and improvement in glycemic levels were observed in the patients taking insulin therapy. Analysis by paired t test indicated a significant difference (p<0.001) in the scores obtained before and after introducing the education plan on diabetes and insulin therapy.