Maguire Laura L, Crawford Sybil, Sullivan-Bolyai Susan
University of Massachusetts Graduate School of Nursing, Worcester, Massachusetts (Dr Maguire, Dr Crawford)
New York University College of Nursing, New York, New York (Dr Sullivan-Bolyai)
Diabetes Educ. 2015 Dec;41(6):678-89. doi: 10.1177/0145721715607982. Epub 2015 Sep 30.
The purpose of this study was to explore the feasibility of using human patient simulation (HPS) to teach type 1 diabetes (T1DM) management to grandparents of grandchildren with T1DM.
Thirty grandparents (11 male, 19 female) of young grandchildren (aged 12 and under) with T1DM were recruited from an urban medical center. Experimental group (n = 14) grandparents received hands-on visual T1DM management education using an HPS intervention, and control group (n = 16) grandparents received similar education using a non-HPS intervention.
This study demonstrated the feasibility of recruiting and retaining grandparents into a clinical trial using HPS to teach T1DM management. Post intervention, all grandparent scores for T1DM knowledge, confidence, and fear showed significant improvement from time 1 to time 2, with HPS group grandparent scores showing consistently larger improvement.
The consistency of larger HPS-taught grandparent score improvement is suggestive of a benefit for the HPS teaching method. Early multimethod Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE)-provided T1DM education is an important point of entry for inducting grandparent members onto the grandchild's diabetes care team.
