College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Drake University, 2507 University Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50311, USA
Rural Remote Health. 2020 Feb;20(1):5596. doi: 10.22605/RRH5596. Epub 2020 Feb 14.
Diabetes is a critical health issue that impacts over 422 million people worldwide to include more than 500 000 children. Diabetes prevalence is higher in rural areas compared to urban areas and people living with diabetes in rural areas face significant challenges to care. Children with diabetes need appropriate care in the school setting to reduce the risk of short- and long-term complications. The inconsistencies of laws surrounding diabetes care in schools and lack of access to resources has resulted in insufficient training and poor provision of care to students, particularly in rural areas. The purpose of this study was to analyze the impact of the online diabetes education program Diabetes Care at School: Bridging the Gap on the diabetes knowledge and self-efficacy of school personnel in rural areas to administer care to students with diabetes.
A total of 132 participants working in rural school districts throughout South Central Texas completed the program. A pretest-post-test design was used to measure knowledge and self-efficacy before and after completion of the 12-module online diabetes education program for school personnel. Knowledge and confidence to administer care change scores were compared, and user satisfaction with the online program was analyzed.
Results of this study showed a significant increase in the knowledge and confidence scores of the participants from pre- to post-test. Although the non-medical school personnel had baseline knowledge and confidence scores that were lower than the school nurses, they had significant change scores, resulting in similar post-test scores. Furthermore, those with no prior diabetes training had significant change in knowledge and confidence, resulting in post-test scores that were almost equivalent to those with prior diabetes training.
As the prevalence of school-aged children with diabetes continues to increase, an important finding of this study is that online programs with up-to-date information on diabetes care may enhance the ability of school personnel to include both lay/non-medical individuals and school nurses to effectively manage the care of students with diabetes. With up-to-date diabetic information delivered in a user-friendly and accessible format, more school personnel in rural and remote areas can be trained. Ultimately, ensuring that staff receive adequate training on diabetes and possess the confidence to administer care should improve outcomes for students with diabetes in rural, remote and underserved areas.
糖尿病是一个严重的健康问题，影响着全球超过 4.22 亿人，其中包括 50 多万名儿童。与城市地区相比，农村地区的糖尿病患病率更高，农村地区的糖尿病患者在护理方面面临着重大挑战。在学校环境中，糖尿病儿童需要得到适当的护理，以降低短期和长期并发症的风险。由于围绕学校糖尿病护理的法律不一致以及缺乏获取资源的机会，导致对学生的培训不足，护理质量较差，尤其是在农村地区。本研究的目的是分析在线糖尿病教育计划“Diabetes Care at School: Bridging the Gap”对农村地区学校人员管理糖尿病学生护理的糖尿病知识和自我效能的影响。
共有 132 名在南德克萨斯州农村学区工作的人员完成了该计划。采用预测试-后测试设计，在完成 12 个模块的在线学校人员糖尿病教育计划之前和之后，测量知识和自我效能。比较了管理护理的知识和信心变化分数，并分析了在线计划的用户满意度。
本研究结果表明，参与者的知识和信心分数从预测试到后测试有显著提高。尽管非医疗学校人员的基线知识和信心分数低于学校护士，但他们的变化分数显著，导致后测试分数相似。此外，没有先前糖尿病培训的人员在知识和信心方面有显著变化，导致后测试分数几乎与有先前糖尿病培训的人员相同。
随着学龄儿童糖尿病患病率的持续上升，本研究的一个重要发现是，具有最新糖尿病护理信息的在线计划可以提高学校人员的能力，使非医疗人员和学校护士都能够有效地管理糖尿病学生的护理。通过以用户友好和易于访问的格式提供最新的糖尿病信息，可以对更多的农村和偏远地区的学校人员进行培训。最终，确保工作人员接受足够的糖尿病培训，并具备管理护理的信心，应该可以改善农村、偏远和服务不足地区糖尿病学生的结果。
