The Effectiveness of a Program for Health Literacy Development on Self-Management Ability among Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients with Uncontrolled Blood Sugar, Ban Khlong Sub-district, Mueang, Phitsanulok

Abstract

Health literacy is essentially of enhancing self-management ability for diabetes mellitus type 2 patients. It promotes patient healthy lifestyle for controlling their blood sugar and preventing disease complications. This quasi-experimental research was employed to study the two-groups with pre-test and post-test design. It aimed to study the effectiveness of health literacy development program on self-management ability among diabetes mellitus type 2 patients with uncontrolled blood sugar situation. 50 samples were diabetes type 2 patients who could not control their blood sugar levels (HbA1C >7). All participants were divided into two groups by blind sampling, 25 were allocated to an intervention group and 25 to comparison group. The experimental group was assigned to participating the health literacy development for enhancing their self-management ability program and the other received the usual health care services. Tools were a health literacy development program and data collecting tools was questionnaire and blood sugar record. The questionnaire was validated by 3 experts with a 0.67-1.00 of IOC and 0.87 of Cornbrash’s alpha coefficients. Data were analyzed using percentage, mean, and standard deviation, paired t-test, and independence t-test. The significance level was set at p-value <0.05.

Results showed that: after participation the program, the intervention group had statistically significance higher self-management ability and lower blood sugar level than before at p-value <0.05. The intervention group had statistically significance higher self-management ability and lower blood sugar level than comparison group at p-value <0.05. In conclusion, healthcare personnel should apply this program for caring the diabetes patients in their clinic.