ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the effect of the transtheoretical model of health behavior change on initial insulin injection in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Methods Thirty elderly patients with type 2 diabetes, receiving traditional training of insulin injection , were recruited as control group ( n = 30 ) between December 2013 and March 2014 . Another 30 elderly patients with type 2 diabetes, who received an education program based on the transtheoretical model of health behavior change for insulin injection training ( 30 minutes for each time and 4 times in total ) , were recruited as experiment group ( n=30 ) between April 2014 and July 2014. The knowledge of insulin injection and the operational skills in the two groups were compared between the two groups. Result Both the knowledge and operational skills at insulin injection in the experiment group were significantly better than those in the control group (P<0.01). Conclusion The transtheoretical model of health behavior change can be significant for improving the operational skills at insulin injection and therefore it can be effective in controling of blood sugar.