Abstract
BACK GROUND: The prevalence of diabetes is increasing in the whole world and in Palestine. Prevention of the disease would help to stop the epidemic. Education is an important element in diabetes prevention and treatment. OBJECTIVES: Study the inter-linkage between
diabetes health education and diabetes patients’ self-management practices, to detect main barriers between educational intervention and the final out come of controlling diabetes.
DESIGN AND METHODS: 152 diabetes patients with an age ranges between (35-65), selected from three different unspecialised health clinics were interviewed, using pre-prepared questionnaires. The data was analysed by using SPSS. In addition to 2 focus group discussion
held at the clinics, where12 diabetes patients participated in it. 12 health workers were interviewed as well, using in-depth interviews and an interview guide. The data collected was analysed qualitatively.
RESULTS: Out of 152 people with diabetes, 71% were females. 55%
of the participants aged over 55 years old. The majority of the patients did not attend educational sessions at the clinics they visited because there were no scheduled educational
session held there. 20% of the patients believed that diabetes education is important because it will help them to know how to control their disease. The Knowledge of people with diabetes
was considered good in some areas concerning diabetes, such as diet and feet care. There was no significant association between patients’ level of knowledge about diabetes complications and the patients’ educational background and duration of having diabetes. But the results showed significant association between knowledge of feet complications and the knowledge of feet care with the fact that the patients developed feet complications. Patients adhere well to
prescribed medications but they do not emphasise on practising other means of selfmanagement to combine with the medication treatment. The current crisis was considered the major barrier to diabetes education and self-management. CONCLUSION: people with
diabetes recognise the deficit in diabetes education in their clinics. They wanted to learn more about diabetes and its management. The health workers wanted to improve diabetes education provided in their clinics, but all the efforts are postponed till the situation in Palestine gets better. There were no significant differences between the three clinics concerning diabetes education and the way it was performed.