Farzaneh Golboni
, Hakim Ahmadzadeh, Haidar Nadrian
* , Tohid Babazadeh, Sarisa Najafi, Parvaneh Ghahremaninasab, Kamyar Pirehbabi, Haleh Heizomi, Hassan Mahmoodi
Abstract
Background: Current evidence suggests that health literacy (HL) impacts self-care behaviors and quality of life (QOL) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). This study aimed to evaluate the impact of a short-time Health Literacy Promotion Program (HeLPP) on self-care behaviors and quality of life (QOL) in rural patients with type 2 diabetes in Chaldoran County, Iran. Methods: Conducted from 2018 to 2019, this randomized controlled trial followed the Solomon Four-group Design. Participants included 160 rural individuals T2DM, who were divided into two intervention (A and C) and two control (B and D) groups. Pre-tests were conducted for group A and group B, with post-tests administered to all groups at three and six months. Interventions, consisting of five training sessions lasting 45 to 55 minutes, were planned and executed based on pre-test analyses. Results: Prior to the intervention, there was no significant difference in awareness, health literacy (HL), self-care behaviors, HbA1c, and QOL between group A and group B (P>0.05). At three and six months after the educational program, group A exhibited significantly increased average scores in awareness, HL, self-care behaviors, and QOL, along with reduced HbA1c levels (p<0.05) compared to group B. No interaction was detected between the pre-test and the primary and secondary outcome scores after intervention. Conclusion: Implementing intervention programs like HeLPP focusing on enhancing practical HL and empowering T2DM patients seems to be promosing in improving patients' awareness, HL, self-care behaviors, and QOL, while reducing their HbA1c levels. Trial registration number: IRCTID: IRCT20131116015422N7 (https://irct.behdasht.gov.ir/trial/35569)