Province of Aceh, IndonesiaPurpose: To determine the effect of individual education through a pictorial handbook on anemia in conjunction with counseling on improving hemoglobin and hematocrit level, birth weight, knowledge, iron-rich food and iron-folic acid (IFA) intake. Patients and Methods: The study developed a pictorial handbook that was conceptualized based on the Health Belief Model and adjusted to some cultural and local contexts. A quasiexperimental pre-test-post-test control group design was used, purposefully conducted between two homogenous municipalities, each having a rate of anemic pregnancy that was 40% or greater. The sample consists of 140 anemic pregnant women randomly allocated via lottery into two groups; the intervention group (n=70), which received two home visits-one for education and another for a counseling session, and control group (n=70), which received routine antenatal care. A chi-square test and a Mann-Whitney U-test were conducted to compare the baseline socio-demographics. An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), controlling some possible confounders, was performed to analyze the effect of intervention. Results: The post-test means of hemoglobin F (1, 132) = 122, p-value <0.001, and hematocrit levels F (1, 132) = 373, p-value <0.001, were significantly different and higher in the intervention group compared to the control group. Similar results were found in knowledge, food frequency score, number of IFA intake (with p-value <0.001), birth weight and daily iron intake from food (with p-value <0.05). The intervention had a particularly large effect on food frequency score and number of IFA intake, and medium effect on hemoglobin and hematocrit levels. Conclusion: Individual education through a pictorial handbook on anemia in conjunction with the counseling intervention program had a positive impact on hemoglobin and hematocrit levels for anemic pregnant women in their third trimester of pregnancy.

Aim: The aim of this study is to assess the effect of diabetes self-management education (DSME) on lowering blood glucose level, stress, and quality of life (QoL) among female patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in Thailand. Background: The burden of noncommunicable diseases has increased globally, and it has negatively affected the QoL of diabetic patients. Methods: A quasi-experimental study was conducted by including 77 T2DM patients selected from 2 public health centers in Thailand. The respondents were randomly selected 38 in control group and 39 in intervention group. Pretested, piloted, and validated tool were used during this study. Knowledge on blood glucose level, stress, and QoL was measured at baseline and then compared to end line after 3 months of the intervention. The effects of intervention were estimated by regression coefficient of intervention on blood glucose level and QoL. The study was ethically approved by the Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. Findings: Baseline characteristics of both the groups were similar before the start of the intervention and there were no significant differences observed in age, education, blood sugar monitoring behavior, medical checkup, knowledge, self-care, stress, and hemoglobin HbA1c (>0.05). However, blood HbA1c, stress level, and QoL among the T2DM patients had significant changes (<0.05) after the intervention. The control group was remained same and there was no statistically significant difference reported (>0.05). Conclusions: The study concluded that the designed intervention of DSME has proved effective in lowering the blood sugar level, HbA1c level, stress level, and improved QoL among T2DM patients during this limited period of time. Hence, policy-makers can replicate this intervention for diabetic patients in a similar context.