Introduction: Telenursing is a simple method to provide and maintain nursing care for patients with chronic illness such as diabetes. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of telenursing on body mass index (BMI) and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) in illiterate patients aged 50 years and older with type 2diabetes. Methods: A randomized controlled clinical trial was performed. Sixty patients with type 2 diabetes who referred to Aligoodarz diabetes clinic (Lorestan, Iran) were randomly assigned to the intervention and control group. Each patient was assessed before and after intervention for the following clinical parameters: HbA1c by Drew-DS5 analyzer and weight by scale (Sahand BMI electronic scale /Iran). All patients received diabetes self-care training for 3 days before the study. Telephone follow ups were applied in intervention group for 12 weeks. The data were analyzed using chi-square, paired t test and independent t test by SPSS11. Results: Results showed statistically significant decrease in BMI at the end of the training from 29.28 (3.29) to 28.35 (3.37) kg/m2 and statistically significant decrease in HbA1c from 8.96 (1.24) to 7.56 (0.71) in the intervention group. The effect size base on Cohen’s formula for BMI and HbA1c was Cohen’s d=2.85, effect size r=0.81 and Cohen’s d=2.04, effect size r=0.71, respectively. Conclusion: The findings indicate that nurse-led telephone follow up can increase adherence from treatment program and has beneficial effects on HbA1c and BMI in illiterate patients aged 50 years and older with type 2 diabetes.

No abstract

No abstract

Background: Health literacy (HL) is one of the factors influencing the use of health-related information by patients with diabetes. As a social support resource, peers can help improve diabetes knowledge in these patients. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of peer support on HL in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) with low support resources. Methods: This randomized controlled trial was conducted on 80 patients with T2D referring to a diabetes clinic in Aligoudarz. Patients meeting the inclusion criteria were selected by the random sampling method and randomly assigned to two groups of intervention and control each containing 40 cases. The data were collected using the Test of Functional Health literacy in Adults (TOFHLA) at the beginning of the study and after 3 months of educational peer support intervention. Eventually, data were analyzed by the statistical tests of chi-square, Fisher’s exact test, t test, and paired t test. Results: The results showed that there was no significant difference in the mean (±SD) HL between the two groups before the intervention (53.12±13.86 vs. 56.62±10.34, P=0.204). However, the mean HL in the intervention group represented a significant improvement after 3 months of peer intervention compared to the control group (70.27±9.78 vs. 56.87±10.07, P<0.001). Conclusion: Overall, peer support was found to be effective in improving the HL of diabetic patients with limited access to support resources. Therefore, it is recommended to use the capacity of peers as a social support resource in diabetes care programs.