The Effect of Team Self –Management Training On Blood Sugar Control in Children and Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetic

Since diabetic type1 is a chronic and without definitive treatment disease, one of the main goals of health system is increasing of patients’ self-empowerment to control blood sugar and manage the disease. According to doing rare study in this age group, this study aimed to investigate the effect of team self-management training on blood sugar control in children and adolescents with type1 diabetes.

In this quasi-experimental study, 32 patients with type1 diabetes aged 6-18 years old were included. Initially, HbA1c was measured and self-management education was delivered by treatment team. Patients were asked to record the cause of increasing and decreasing of blood sugar and its’ level. This program lasted for three months in six sessions. Finally, HbA1c level, fluctuations in blood sugar, frequency of hypoglycemia and hospitalization, and daily insulin dose were compared pre and post of the study. Data were analyzed by SPSS18.

The mean age of participants was 12.59±0.5 years. Mean of HbA1c was 10.96±0.40 mg/dl and 9.85±0.35 mg/dl pre and post of the study, respectively that this mean difference was significant(P<0.05). After study, short-acting insulin dose had significantly decreased(P<0.05) and long-acting insulin dose had increased(P<0.05). The frequency of hospitalizations and hypoglycemia showed no significant difference between before and after the study (P>0.05).

Since self-management program had an effective role in decreasing of HbA1c and insulin dose, it is suggested to implement it in care programs of type1 diabetic patients in order to better control blood sugar and reduce insulin requirement.