عنوان

طراحی و اثربخشی مداخله مبتنی بر ایجاد گروه های خودیار در توانمندسازی سالمندان مبتلا به دیابت نوع2 مقیم جامعه

Text of Note

Introduction: Effective control of type 2 diabetes requires the control of several challenges, which indicates the need to empower patients to cope these challenges. The current study examined the effectiveness of participation in self-help groups in empowering the elderly with type 2 diabetes.Methods and materials: From a specific district in Qom, two health centers were randomly selected. One center was designated as an intervention and the other as a control setting. From each center, 46 subjects were selected by convenience sampling. The subjects of the intervention group participated in a 3-month period (12 sessions) of self-help groups, and the control group received only routine care. The main outcome variable in the study was hemoglobin A1c, and other outcome variables included diabetes distress, knowledge about diabetes, attitude toward diabetes, self-efficacy, weight, systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Subjects were assessed in baseline, third and sixth months of the study. In order to analyze the data, the average changes of the variables were calculated and compared intragroup and intergroup. SPSS software version 22 was used for description and analysis of the data.Results: The mean age of the subjects in the baseline was 64.9(n = 92). The majority of them were female (66.3%) married (90.2%), illiterate(79.3%), without diabetes complications(70.7%), housewife(66.3%), without polypharmacy(63.0%) and without comorbidity(37.0%). Comparison of the two groups in the baseline indicated that there was no significant difference between them in terms of contextual and outcomes variables (P>0.05). Measurements of the sixth month showed that in the intervention group, the mean hemoglobin A1c (P <0.0001), attitude towards diabetes (P <0.0001), diabetes distress (P = 0.006) and self-efficacy (P <0.0001)was significantly reduced compared to the baseline. However, no significant changes in systolic and diastolic blood pressure, weight and knowledge of the subjects were observed (P <0.05). In the control group, during the comparison of the sixth month and the baseline, no significant change was found in any of the consequence variables (P <0.05).Conclusion: Formation of self-help groups may help in controlling blood sugar in the elderly with type-2 diabetes. Seemingly, self-help groups can mainly impact through psychological factors such as distress control, enhancement of attitude, and improvement of self-efficacy. Keywords: self-help group, the elderly, type-2 diabetes, empowerment