Impact of an educational programme in Portuguese people with diabetes

Abstract

This study, conducted in the north of Portugal, is the result of a group of nurses' intent to develop a closer and meaningful person-centered care for patients with diabetes, empowering them with skills to better manage their therapeutic regimen. Through a participatory action research process, the group of nurses involved in this study, reflected on the current healthcare enabling them an in-depth analysis of the best scientific evidence, aiming to design context tailored solutions, which would contribute to patients' empowerment. Through a longitudinal study developed over several stages, the nurses outlined the educational programme Living in harmony with diabetes, which was applied to 85 patients with diabetes mellitus type 2. The programme had a positive impact on the psychosocial variables, in self-care behaviour and in the metabolic control, helping patients to better cope with their disease and have greater control over their health condition. Throughout the process of participatory action research, the nurses were able to increase their self-efficacy and empowerment on person-centered care implementation.

Effectiveness of an empowerment-based educational program in self-efficacy perception in patients with diabetes

“…The exclusion criteria included not accepting to participate in all sessions of the program, concerning the experimental group, and the unavailability to fill out the initial and final evaluation questionnaire in both groups. The implemented program, named Living Harmoniously with Diabetes (Sousa et al, 2017), was inspired by the empowerment philosophy, more specifically by the behavioral change model of Anderson and Funnell (2005). This study was implemented in six two-hour group sessions held once a week.…”

“…This program used an interactive and practical approach, aiming to work with the participants on decision-making and daily problem-solving skills. Like in the study by Sousa et al (2017), the content of the educational program was grouped into 4 modules: Module 1 (what diabetes means to me); Module 2 (how diabetes affects my daily life); Module 3 (which are my diabetes-related goals); Module 4 (how can I manage my diabetes through diet, physical exercise, medication, and self-surveillance). The Diabetes Empowerment Scale -Short Form (DES-SF; Anderson, Fitzgerald, Gruppen, & Funnell, 2003) was the chosen instrument to determine the effectiveness of the program, applied to the participants by hetero-evaluation in two MATILDE ALMEIDA et al…”

“…In 2015, an empowerment-based intervention program was developed, called Living Harmoniously with Diabetes, and presented satisfactory results in several psychosocial, be-havioral, and clinical variables, particularly in self-efficacy perceptions and self-care behaviors. However, these authors focused on nurse involvement in clinical practice, particularly in the search for new ways of supporting the person with diabetes to integrate and manage his/her illness, on the analysis of factors that influence self-care behaviors, as well as on the design of this program (Sousa et al, 2017). Two evaluations were conducted before and after its implementation, but without a control group and random sample (Sousa et al, 2017).…”

“…However, these authors focused on nurse involvement in clinical practice, particularly in the search for new ways of supporting the person with diabetes to integrate and manage his/her illness, on the analysis of factors that influence self-care behaviors, as well as on the design of this program (Sousa et al, 2017). Two evaluations were conducted before and after its implementation, but without a control group and random sample (Sousa et al, 2017). Considering the abovementioned scenario of knowledge, the authors considered it pertinent to conduct this quasi-experimental study to assess the effectiveness of the Living Harmoniously with Diabetes program in self-efficacy perceptions in patients with type 2 DM.…”

“…The use of empowerment as an HE approach intends, besides conveying knowledge, to reinforce the appropriate attitudes in the person and build an ongoing process of motivation and involvement, promoting an exchange of knowledge, power, and responsibilities between the patient and the health professional, possibly leading to improved self-efficacy (Anderson & Funnell, 2005). The various studies refer that diabetes self-management empowerment-based programs are more effective than the traditional educational approach (Chen, Wang, Lin, Hsu, & Chen, 2015;Cortez et al, 2017;Funnell, Tang, & Anderson, 2007;Sousa et al, 2017). They focus on each person's specific needs, a comprehensive perspective which comprises all the determinants that affect the well-being of individuals (Cortez et al, 2017;Funnell et al, 2007).…”