The effect of teach-back education on foot self-care among patients with type II diabetes mellitus

Background and Aim: Foot problems are common among patients with diabetes mellitus. In most cases, these problems finally result in utation. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of teachback education on foot selfcare among patients with type II diabetes. Materials and Methods: This controlled quasiexperimental study was conducted on 70 patients with type II diabetes referring to Birjand Diabetes Clinic, Birjand, Iran. Patients were randomly and equally assigned to the teachback and the control groups. The study data were collected via the Oremrsquo s nursing assessment form and a researchermade foot selfcare behaviors questionnaire. Based on patientsrsquo educational needs and selfcare deficits, foot selfcare educations were provided personally and facetoface to patients in the teachback group in two to three sessions. Each session lasted 25ndash 30 minutes. Patients in the control group received only the educations which were routinely provided in the study setting. The study questionnaires were recompleted through interviewing participants seven days and also one and three months after the intervention. The analysis of the study data was performed via the SPSS software (v. 16.0). The study groups were compared regarding patientsrsquo demographic characteristics and foot selfcare behaviors scores by conducting the Chisquare, the Fisherrsquo s exact, and the independentsles t test. In addition, withingroup comparisons were performed by doing withingroup analysis of variance and the Bonferronirsquo s post hoc test at a significance level of 0.05. Results: The results of withingroup analysis of variance and the Bonferronirsquo s post hoc test showed that in the teachback group, the mean score of foot selfcare at seven days and one and three months after the intervention was significantly higher than pretest readings (P<0.001). Moreover, all of the three pretestposttest mean differences of selfcare scores in the teachback group were significantly greater than the control group (P<0.001). Conclusion: One and three months after the study intervention, the mean score of foot selfcare in the teachback group was significantly higher than both the pretest readings in the same group and the control group. These findings imply that teachback education is effective in enhancing information retention. Using this technique in largerscale studies is recommended for improving patientsrsquo selfcare ability.