The effect of self-care intervention program on daily living activities among patients with diabetes mellitus

Abstract

Background & Aim: The most important goal of providing care for patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) is to increase the level of activity and hence prevent the progression of the disease. DM is a chronic disease with no definitive treatment, however it can be controlled with proper self-care. Methods & Materials: This was a pre-test and post-test semi-experimental study without a control group. The statistical sample included 70 patients with DM who were gradually selected from among members of Sabzevar diabetes association, Iran, in a random manner. The patients were under self-care training program for 3 sessions of 2 hours. Data were collected using the self-care diabetes activity questionnaire and Barthel Activities of Daily Living (ADL) Index and were analyzed using the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) in SPSS. Results: Findings showed that the mean daily activities of patients were significantly different before and after self-care program, indicating the positive effect of self-care training program on daily activities of patients. Conclusion: The present study showed that self-care education program significantly and positively affected the daily activities of patients. Therefore, such training is recommended in order to improve the health status and reduce the progression of DM.

Keywords

• Diabetes mellitus
• Methods
• Self-care
• Activities of daily living
• Program development