A Promotion Program for Food Consumption Applied Information Motivation and Behavioral Skills Model of Diabetes Patients, Nonthaburi Province*

Abstract

This quasi-experimental research was aimed at studying the effect of a promotion program
for food a consumption applied information motivation and behavioral skills model of diabetes
patients, in Nonthaburi Province. The samples were composed of 70 Type 2 diabetes patients, 35
each in the experimental and the comparison groups. The experimental group participated in the
health education activities for 7 sessions, 90 minutes per session. The program lasted for 13 weeks
and composed of: disseminating information through educating participants about appropriate
food for diabetes patients; 2. Developing motivation through personal motivation by having
patients exchanged opinions and experiences with other diabetes patients as well as developing
social motivation by giving patients 2 follow-up telephone calls by the researcher including
making home-visits by public health personnel; 3. Developing behavioral skills through a
demonstration of appropriate food selection, drilling of the menu setting, reading food labels, and
observing the models presented. For the comparison group, the patients received normal health
services. The researcher collected data by using the interviewing-schedule and descriptive
statistics, Independent sample’s t-test and Paired sample’s t-test were used for data analysis.
The research results showed that after the experimentation, the experimentation group
gained significantly higher level of knowledge about appropriate food for diabetes patients;
perceived self-efficacy to consume appropriate foods; outcome expectation of the benefits from
appropriate food consumption; and appropriate food consumption behavior than the comparison
group (p-value<0.001). The average fasting blood level of the experimental group was found to
significantly lower than before the program and that of comparison group (p-value<0.001). Thus, it
was recommended that this type of this program should be applied to Type 2 diabetes patients
in order to promote appropriate food consumption behaviors as well as to other chronic patients
with the aim of developing better lifestyles for the patients.