EFFECTIVENESS OF AN EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM IN THE CONTROL OF DIABETIC PATIENTS

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of an educational intervention program on people with diabetes mellitus type 2 in a family medical unit of San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Methodology and material: This is a study of intervention, longitudinal and, comparative. A probabilistic sample and a randomized assignation was used. The variables of study were: level of knowledge in regard to the disease, self care and metabolic control of the patient. An educational intervention program was applied to the study group during nine months, thus a conventional assistance was given to the control group. Measurements of glucosidal hemoglobin were taken, so was the level of knowledge before and after the intervention. The data were processed and analyzed with the software SPSS 8.0. A test of differences of medians for independent samples was applied. Results: The findings show statistic evidence of the educational program effectiveness, thus the knowledge level was improved, and through the test of Friedman, it was showed that the average of glucosidal hemoglobin is lower in the study group. Conclusions: The evaluated program is effective because it increases knowledge increment with respect to the illness, and also ways of control and the therapeutic, such as the metabolic control of the patient.