The Impact of Diabetes Mellitus Structured Health Education Program on Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Diabetes Care and Management among Nursing Students

Abstract

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disorder which can lead to hyperglycemia and microvascular complications. Patient education given by nurses is always regarded as a vital component of diabetes therapy because the diabetes management greatly relies on the nurses who can help to unleash patient's capacity to perform self-care in their daily lives. Aim: Nursing students are the future nurses who form formidable workforce to make a difference in diabetes patients care. Hence the aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of diabetes mellitus structured education program on knowledge, attitude and practice of diabetes care and management among the nursing students in a private institution. Method: A quasi-experimental study was conducted at a private institution in Kedah, Malaysia in which a total of 93 participants were involved in the study. Pre-test was done before the intervention and subsequently pos-test was conducted immediately after intervention followed by second post-test a week after the intervention. Results: Results showed there was a significant effect of structured health education program on knowledge, attitude and practice among nursing students. Conclusion: This study underscored the significance of implementation of diabetes structured health education program as one of the preventive tools of diabetes care and management via raising patient awareness of the impending complications and can be appropriately adopted in clinical practice for their benefits.