Introduction and purpose: Diabetes is a very important health problem and is the most common chronic metabolic disease in the world. With regard to this problem, self-care programs are suggested to improve care and life quality of diabetic patients. This study aims to determine the effect of training on self-care promotion of type 2 diabetic patients in rural health centers of Noor, Iran.
Methods: This experimental study was conducted on 200 type 2 diabetic patients. The participants were divided into case and control groups. The data were collected using a self-care questionnaire, which included items on physical exercise, foot care, drug consumption and insulin injection. At first, the data were collected in a pre-test and then, an integrated training intervention was performed. The post-test was conducted eight weeks following the intervention. The data were analyzed using SPSS, version 20.
Results: The mean score of knowledge was 2.944 in the case group and 2.244 in the control group. In addition, a significant relationship was found between the demographic characteristics (i.e., age, gender and level of education) and self-care promotion in the two groups, and no significant correlation was found between job and self-care promotion.
Conclusion: This study indicates the importance of continuous and integrated training on type 2 diabetes self-care. Therefore, it seems necessary for patients to participate in training programs to increase their awareness and to improve their attitude and performance.