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Diabetes Education: Whose Priorities Are Met?
Author(s) -
Genev N.M.,
Flack J.R.,
Hoskins P.L.,
Overland J.E.,
Yue D.K.,
Turtle J.R.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
diabetic medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.474
H-Index - 145
eISSN - 1464-5491
pISSN - 0742-3071
DOI - 10.1111/j.1464-5491.1992.tb01820.x
Subject(s) - medicine , diabetes mellitus , intensive care medicine , family medicine , endocrinology
Two hundred Type 2 diabetic patients newly referred to the diabetes centre at a large university teaching hospital were studied over an 8‐month period. Patients completed a diabetes knowledge questionnaire, and specified their educational priorities by selecting six diabetes‐related topics from a list of 14. After giving 1 h of individual education and using the same list, the educators selected six topics which they considered to be most important for that particular patient to know. Choice of educational priorities differed between the patients and the corresponding educator ( p < 0.001). In only 38% of cases did the educators' first three priorities coincide with those of the patients. The major discrepancies were in the selection of ‘sick day management’ and ‘complications’, especially favoured by patients, as against ‘oral hypoglycaemic agents’ and other therapy‐related topics, especially favoured by educators. Diabetes knowledge was a determinant of educational priority for patients ( p < 0.001) but not educators. In contrast, only the educators' overall choices were affected by duration of diabetes ( p < 0.001). Diabetes treatment type influenced both patients' and educators' selection of priorities ( p < 0.001). We conclude that an educational strategy which relies on health professionals' perceptions to determine what diabetic patients need to know may be inadequate.