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Diabetes self-management education in a high-income developing country: survey of the opinion of nurses and dietitians

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Abstract

To assess the views of nurses and dietitians on diabetes self-management education and the preparedness of their work places for implementing diabetes self-care. 1,057 (71 %) of the estimated 1,498 qualified nurses and dietitians employed in the services of the Regional Health Authorities between November 2011 and April 2012 completed the self-administered research questionnaire previously pre-tested on a cohort of student nurses. The questionnaires did not contain any personal identifiers but were serially numbered to avoid receiving duplicate copies from a participant. The questionnaires were distributed to all public hospitals and health centres within the regional health authorities. The head nurse in each facility assisted in the distribution and collection of completed questionnaires from the volunteers. One thousand thirty-two nurses and 25 dietitians participated in the study. While the majorities of the nurses and dietitians agreed that diabetes self-management education will assist to reduce diabetes complications, 68 % and 58 % of them respectively did not think that there was adequate diabetes health education for the patients in their places of work. Furthermore, 73 % of the nurses and dietitians think that the health care system was not prepared for diabetes self-management education given that there were not enough qualified health personnel, educational facilities and economic resources. Although the nurses and dietitians agreed that diabetes self-management education will assist to reduce diabetes complications, inadequate healthcare personnel, economic resources and educational facilities constitute significant barriers. We recommend that governments in the developing countries should invest human and material resources into healthcare education.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Publication and Research Fund from the University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus. We thank Ms Elizabeth Martins and Dr Onochi Aghaegbuna for their assistance in reaching out to the nurses and dieticians in Tobago and all the Heads of Nurse stations in each facility that assisted in the distribution and collection of the research questionnaires. We appreciate the timely approvals we received from the five Regional Health Authorities in the country for conducting this survey.

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Correspondence to Chidum Ezenwaka.

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Ezenwaka, C., Onuoha, P., Sandy, D. et al. Diabetes self-management education in a high-income developing country: survey of the opinion of nurses and dietitians. Int J Diabetes Dev Ctries 34, 163–168 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13410-013-0174-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13410-013-0174-7

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