A comparative study of group versus individual diabetes education on the diabetes knowledge among type 2 diabetics in an urban Nigerian hospital

Abstract

Background: Diabetes group education is a cost effective alternative to individual education with the potential to significantly improve diabetes care. We compared the effect of group versus individual diabetes education on the diabetes knowledge test scores of adult type 2 diabetics in a primary care setting.
Methods: A comparative study consisting of two hundred consenting type 2 diabetics receiving care at the general outpatient department of Bingham University Teaching Hospital was done. Subjects were recruited by systematic random sampling and randomly allocated into intervention (group education) and control (one- on- one education) in 10 blocks of 20 subjects each. Socio-demographic, clinical and diabetes knowledge score data were obtained with standardized questionnaires from both groups at 0 and 12 weeks.
Results: A total of 142 patients completed the study, intervention (n = 82) and control (n = 60). Overall, 104(28.9%) passed the diabetes knowledge test (DKT),66 (80.5%) in the group education compared to 38 (63.3%) in the control group, OR 2.39 (1.12-5.09). The mean DKT score was higher in the intervention group at the end of the study, 8.48 ±2.4 vs 7.58±2.4, p=0.03. The intervention group had a similar change in mean DKT score, 2.16 vs 1.73, p=0.37. Multinomial logistic regression revealed that tertiary education was significantly related to diabetes knowledge test status (OR= 0.39; 95% CI:0.16-0.99).
Conclusion: This study demonstrated poor diabetes knowledge in the entire study group before the intervention, but comparable improvement in diabetes knowledge in the two groups.

Keywords: Type 2 diabetes mellitus, Diabetes knowledge, Education, Group visits