The Effect of a Health Literacy Development Program through Electronic Media on Foot Care Behaviors in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
Keywords:
Diabetic foot, Foot care behaviors among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, Health literacyAbstract
This quasi-experimental study with a two-group pretest-posttest design aimed to examine the effects of a health literacy enhancement program delivered through electronic media on foot care behaviors among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The sample consisted of 64 patients with type 2 diabetes who were at low risk for diabetic foot ulcers. Participants were selected using a consecutive sampling method and assigned to the experimental group and the control group, with 32 participants in each group. The research instruments included the electronic media-based health literacy enhancement program and the Foot Care Behavior Questionnaire. The questionnaire demonstrated acceptable content validity, with a content validity index (CVI) of .84, and reliability, with a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of .72. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and t-tests.
The results revealed that the mean foot care behavior score of patients with type 2 diabetes after participating in the program was significantly higher than before participation (t = 14.42, p-value < .001) and significantly higher than that of the control group receiving usual nursing care (t = 12.28, p-value < .001). These findings indicate that the electronic media-based health literacy enhancement program effectively improved foot care behaviors among patients with type 2 diabetes, consistent with the concept of health literacy. Based on the findings, nurses should promote health literacy to enable patients to access, appraise, evaluate, and apply health information appropriately for improving foot care behaviors among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.
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