Group patient education: effectiveness of a brief intervention in people with type 2 diabetes mellitus in primary health care in Greece: a clinically controlled trial.

This study aims to assess the impact of a brief patient group education intervention in people with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The sample, 193 people with type 2 diabetes mellitus who were patients at the diabetic clinic of a primary health care setting in Attica, was assigned to two groups, intervention (138 individuals) and control group (55 individuals). The intervention group, instead of receiving standard care, attended a structured group educational programme using Conversation Maps while the control group had standard care. The main outcome measures were HbA1c, body mass index (BMI), triglycerides, high density lipoprotein (HDL), low density lipoprotein (LDL), measured at baseline and 6 months after the intervention. After 6 months, significant differences in changes of the studied parameters were observed between the groups in HbA1c, 1.4 (95% CI: 1.1, 1.7), (P < 0.001) and HDL -4.4 (95% CI: -8.1, -0.8), (P < 0.001) in favour of group education. Within the groups, the intervention group presented a significant reduction in HbA1c, -0.6 (95% CI: -0.8, -0.3), (P < 0.001), in BMI, -0.7 (95% CI: -0.9, -0.1), (P = 0.007), in triglycerides, -21.1 (95% CI: -47.1, -9.9), (P = 0.003) and LDL, -10.0 (95% CI: -22.5, -5.7), (P < 0.001), while in the control group significant reductions were observed in HbA1c, -0.5 (95% CI: -0.5, -0.3), (P = 0.003), in HLD, -4.1 (95% CI: -7.7, -2.3), (P = 0.001) and in LDL, -9.4 (95% CI: -19.9, -3.9), (P = 0.018). Group-based patient education using Conversation Maps for people with type 2 diabetes is more effective, compared with individual education, in diabetes self-management.

Sense of coherence in people with and without type 2 diabetes mellitus: an observational study from Greece.

Background Antonovsky's concept of sense of coherence (SOC) has been suggested to relate to health, especially mental health and preventive health behaviours. Psychological distress has been identified as a risk factor for pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes mellitus. The study of SOC and diabetes has not received much attention in Greece. This study aims to explore the extent to which type 2 diabetes mellitus can affect the SOC score. Methods An observational design was used to test the study hypothesis that individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus would have a lower SOC than those without diabetes mellitus. A total of 202 individuals were studied, consisting of 100 people with diabetes mellitus (the study group) and 102 people with non-chronic orthopaedic conditions (the control group). All of the participants were patients of the Diabetic Clinic or the Orthopaedic Clinic of Livadia Hospital in Central Greece. SOC was assessed using a 29-item SOC questionnaire that had been translated into Greek and validated. Results Patients without type 2 diabetes mellitus had 2.4 times higher odds of having a high SOC score than patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (P = 0.036; odds ratio [OR] = 2.35, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.06-5.23). Male patients had 3.9 times higher odds of having a high SOC score (P < 0.001; OR = 3.85, 95% CI = 1.71-8.67) than female patients. With regard to education, patients with a lower level of education had almost three times higher odds of having a high SOC score than patients with a higher level of education (P = 0.024; OR = 2.97, 95% CI = 1.15-7.67). Conclusions This study adds to the existing literature and indicates that SOC is a health asset. A study with an experimental design would clarify the interesting hypothesis of this study.