Describing the Process and Outcome of Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support in Comprehensive Health Service Centers and Diabetes Clinics in Isfahan Province

The health assistant and treatment assistant in the Ministry of Health and Medicine are in charge of educating people with diabetes and empowering them to achieve self-management of diabetes. The present study was conducted with the aim of determining the status of education and support for diabetes self-management in comprehensive health service centers and diabetes clinics in Isfahan province.

The diabetes education units of 20 comprehensive health service centers and 11 diabetes clinics in Isfahan province formed the sample size. The data collection tool was a checklist with 107 items, which was completed by observing and reviewing 170 paper/electronic files of patients with diabetes.

In more than two-thirds of the files of diabetes centers/clinics, initial assessment were neither performed nor recorded. Educational needs assessment was recorded in 5% of the files and educational planning was not recorded in nearly 100% of them. In more than a third of the files (36.5%), diet education was recorded once when the case was filed. In 3.4% of files, educational effectiveness evaluation was recorded and in three quarters of files (75.78%), continuous support for self-management was not recorded.

There is a significant gap between the status of education and support for diabetes self-management and the process and outcome standards of DSMES in the educational units covered by the provincial health and treatment department. This gap seriously and negatively affects the results of this approach.