Effectiveness of an Integrated Educational Program on Disease Attitude and Self-Care in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Abstract

Background: Type 2 diabetes is a prevalent chronic disease that requires sustained self-care and a positive attitude for its effective management. Despite the importance of these factors, interventions to improve them remain limited. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an integrated educational program in improving self-care behaviors and attitudes toward diabetes among patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods: A pretest–posttest control group design was employed. Thirty patients with type 2 diabetes were selected via purposive sampling from healthcare centers in Sanandaj and assigned to experimental (n = 15) and control (n = 15) groups. The experimental group received a 10-session integrated educational program (60 minutes per session; two sessions per week), whereas the control group maintained their habitual daily activities throughout the study period and did not participate in any additional training. Data were collected using the Diabetes Self-Care Questionnaire and the third version of the Iranian Diabetes Attitude Scale (IR-DAS-3). Data were analyzed using analysis of covariance and paired-samples t-tests to assess between-group and within-group changes, respectively. Results: Comparison between the two groups showed significant differences in self-care and attitude toward diabetes scores (P < 0.05, based on the ANCOVA test). A significant increase in the self-care score was observed in the experimental group compared with the control group (P-value between groups = 0.001; partial η2 = 0.950). Likewise, after the study, the mean attitude toward diabetes score was significantly higher in the experimental group than in the control group, after controlling for the effect of the baseline score (P-value between groups = 0.001; partial η2 = 0.990). Conclusions: The integrated educational program effectively enhanced self-care behaviors and improved attitudes toward diabetes among patients with type 2 diabetes. These findings suggest that incorporating such experiential educational programs into standard diabetes care may be a valuable strategy for patient empowerment and improved health outcomes.