Patients' Experiences of Diabetes Self-Management Education According to Health-Literacy Levels. (June 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kim, Suhyun; Song, Yeoungsuk; Park, Jihyun; Utz, Sonja
• Is Part Of: Clinical nursing research. Volume 29:Number 5(2020)
• Page Start: 285
• Page End: 292
• Publication Date: 2020-06
• Subjects: diabetes mellitus -- health-literacy -- qualitative research -- self-management; Nursing -- Research -- Periodicals; Nursing -- Periodicals; Clinical medicine -- Research -- Periodicals; 610.73
• DOI: 10.1177/1054773819865879
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1054-7738

Abstract

Diabetes self-management is an important part of patient care for those with diabetes. The purpose of this study was to explore patients' experiences with diabetes self-management education and how these experiences differed by health-literacy levels. A descriptive qualitative design was conducted. In 2016, 20 patients with diabetes who took a formal diabetes self-management course at a university hospital in South Korea were interviewed. A conventional content analysis was conducted. Patients with low health-literacy misunderstood diabetes management, showed passive attitudes towards seeking information, and had difficulty obtaining detailed information. Patients with high health-literacy wanted systematic, in-depth, individualized counselling on lifestyle modifications and medications. Patients' experiences with diabetes self-management education revealed differences in their health-literacy dimensions. In addition to practising health-literacy precautions, the content and delivery of diabetes self-management education need to be accommodated according to patients' health-literacy levels to obtain better outcomes.