Do Practice Nurses in the Caribbean have the Knowledge of the Principles and Concepts of Diabetes Self-Management Education?

Abstract

Aim: To compare the knowledge of practice nurses on principles and concepts of diabetes self-management education (DSME) before and after a DSME training workshop. Methods: All 150 practice nurses currently studying for a bachelor's degree were invited for a 2-day DSME training workshop. 88 practice nurses (59%) responded. Each participant was requested to complete and return selfassessment questionnaires before and after the training. The pre-and post-workshop knowledge of the nurses were compared using Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test for non-parametric tests in SPSS. Results: The practice nurses were aged between 20 and 62 years and the majority (95.1%) were employed in the public sector. Before the training, 98-100% of the participants knew and agreed with the five articulated princples of DSME and these did not change after the workshop training (all, p>0.05). Similarly, their understanding (96-100%) of the concepts of DSME before and after the training were similar (all, p>0.05). Conclusions: The practice nurses in Trinidad and Tobago have sufficient theoretical knowledge of the principles and concepts of DSME. The transfer of this knowledge to their patients in their care will depend on the educational infrastructure available to facilitate efficient DSME.