The impact of health literacy on diabetes self-management education

Jessica Vandenbosch; Stephan Van den Broucke; Louise Schinckus; Peter Schwarz; Gerardine Doyle; Jürgen Pelikan; Ingrid Muller; Diane Levin-Zamir; Dean Schillinger; Peter Chang; Helle Terkildsen-Maindal

doi:10.1177/0017896917751554

The impact of health literacy on diabetes self-management education

Jessica Vandenbosch^*, Stephan Van den Broucke, Louise Schinckus, Peter Schwarz, Gerardine Doyle, Jürgen Pelikan, Ingrid Muller, Diane Levin-Zamir, Dean Schillinger, Peter Chang, Helle Terkildsen-Maindal

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Clinical Medicine

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background: Diabetes self-management education (DSME) is generally considered to be a key determinant of the treatment outcomes and related costs of diabetes mellitus. While DSME programmes generally have positive outcomes, their effects may depend on certain factors, such as the type of programmes provided and patients’ level of health literacy (HL). Low HL has been associated with poorer self-management behaviours and poor medication adherence in diabetic patients, but its impact on the effects of DSME has not yet been systematically investigated. This study aimed to investigate the influence of HL on the self-reported effects of DSME programmes while taking the type of programme into consideration. Method: A total of 366 diabetic patients from nine countries completed a questionnaire measuring HL, self-management behaviours, problem perception, coping, perceived general health and well-being, before and after participating in a DSME programme. Results: DSME programmes were found to have positive effects on self-reported self-management behaviours and almost all psychological and health outcomes, regardless of HL level. Patients with high HL scored better on several diabetes outcomes than those with low HL, but all patients described benefiting from DSME. Individual and group-based programmes resulted in more positive effects on several diabetes outcomes than self-help groups, but no interaction with HL was found. Conclusion: Our findings confirm those of previous studies showing that DSME programmes have positive effects and that low HL is associated with lower diabetes outcomes but do not support the assumption that the effects of DSME programmes are influenced by the patient’s HL. However, due to the limitations of this study, further investigation is necessary to support these findings and improve our understanding about the impact of HL on DSME programmes’ effectiveness.

Original language	English
Journal	Health Education Journal
Volume	77
Issue number	3
Pages (from-to)	349-362
Number of pages	14
ISSN	0017-8969
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/0017896917751554
Publication status	Published - 2018

Keywords

Health literacy
patient education
self-management education programmes
type 2 diabetes

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1177/0017896917751554

Cite this

@article{e307a01404704b84a082bdde7418ca9c,

title = "The impact of health literacy on diabetes self-management education",

abstract = "Background: Diabetes self-management education (DSME) is generally considered to be a key determinant of the treatment outcomes and related costs of diabetes mellitus. While DSME programmes generally have positive outcomes, their effects may depend on certain factors, such as the type of programmes provided and patients{\textquoteright} level of health literacy (HL). Low HL has been associated with poorer self-management behaviours and poor medication adherence in diabetic patients, but its impact on the effects of DSME has not yet been systematically investigated. This study aimed to investigate the influence of HL on the self-reported effects of DSME programmes while taking the type of programme into consideration. Method: A total of 366 diabetic patients from nine countries completed a questionnaire measuring HL, self-management behaviours, problem perception, coping, perceived general health and well-being, before and after participating in a DSME programme. Results: DSME programmes were found to have positive effects on self-reported self-management behaviours and almost all psychological and health outcomes, regardless of HL level. Patients with high HL scored better on several diabetes outcomes than those with low HL, but all patients described benefiting from DSME. Individual and group-based programmes resulted in more positive effects on several diabetes outcomes than self-help groups, but no interaction with HL was found. Conclusion: Our findings confirm those of previous studies showing that DSME programmes have positive effects and that low HL is associated with lower diabetes outcomes but do not support the assumption that the effects of DSME programmes are influenced by the patient{\textquoteright}s HL. However, due to the limitations of this study, further investigation is necessary to support these findings and improve our understanding about the impact of HL on DSME programmes{\textquoteright} effectiveness.",

keywords = "Health literacy, patient education, self-management education programmes, type 2 diabetes",

author = "Jessica Vandenbosch and {Van den Broucke}, Stephan and Louise Schinckus and Peter Schwarz and Gerardine Doyle and J{\"u}rgen Pelikan and Ingrid Muller and Diane Levin-Zamir and Dean Schillinger and Peter Chang and Helle Terkildsen-Maindal",

year = "2018",

doi = "10.1177/0017896917751554",

language = "English",

volume = "77",

pages = "349--362",

journal = "Health Education Journal",

issn = "0017-8969",

publisher = "SAGE Publications",

number = "3",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - The impact of health literacy on diabetes self-management education

AU - Vandenbosch, Jessica

AU - Van den Broucke, Stephan

AU - Schinckus, Louise

AU - Schwarz, Peter

AU - Doyle, Gerardine

AU - Pelikan, Jürgen

AU - Muller, Ingrid

AU - Levin-Zamir, Diane

AU - Schillinger, Dean

AU - Chang, Peter

AU - Terkildsen-Maindal, Helle

PY - 2018

Y1 - 2018

N2 - Background: Diabetes self-management education (DSME) is generally considered to be a key determinant of the treatment outcomes and related costs of diabetes mellitus. While DSME programmes generally have positive outcomes, their effects may depend on certain factors, such as the type of programmes provided and patients’ level of health literacy (HL). Low HL has been associated with poorer self-management behaviours and poor medication adherence in diabetic patients, but its impact on the effects of DSME has not yet been systematically investigated. This study aimed to investigate the influence of HL on the self-reported effects of DSME programmes while taking the type of programme into consideration. Method: A total of 366 diabetic patients from nine countries completed a questionnaire measuring HL, self-management behaviours, problem perception, coping, perceived general health and well-being, before and after participating in a DSME programme. Results: DSME programmes were found to have positive effects on self-reported self-management behaviours and almost all psychological and health outcomes, regardless of HL level. Patients with high HL scored better on several diabetes outcomes than those with low HL, but all patients described benefiting from DSME. Individual and group-based programmes resulted in more positive effects on several diabetes outcomes than self-help groups, but no interaction with HL was found. Conclusion: Our findings confirm those of previous studies showing that DSME programmes have positive effects and that low HL is associated with lower diabetes outcomes but do not support the assumption that the effects of DSME programmes are influenced by the patient’s HL. However, due to the limitations of this study, further investigation is necessary to support these findings and improve our understanding about the impact of HL on DSME programmes’ effectiveness.

AB - Background: Diabetes self-management education (DSME) is generally considered to be a key determinant of the treatment outcomes and related costs of diabetes mellitus. While DSME programmes generally have positive outcomes, their effects may depend on certain factors, such as the type of programmes provided and patients’ level of health literacy (HL). Low HL has been associated with poorer self-management behaviours and poor medication adherence in diabetic patients, but its impact on the effects of DSME has not yet been systematically investigated. This study aimed to investigate the influence of HL on the self-reported effects of DSME programmes while taking the type of programme into consideration. Method: A total of 366 diabetic patients from nine countries completed a questionnaire measuring HL, self-management behaviours, problem perception, coping, perceived general health and well-being, before and after participating in a DSME programme. Results: DSME programmes were found to have positive effects on self-reported self-management behaviours and almost all psychological and health outcomes, regardless of HL level. Patients with high HL scored better on several diabetes outcomes than those with low HL, but all patients described benefiting from DSME. Individual and group-based programmes resulted in more positive effects on several diabetes outcomes than self-help groups, but no interaction with HL was found. Conclusion: Our findings confirm those of previous studies showing that DSME programmes have positive effects and that low HL is associated with lower diabetes outcomes but do not support the assumption that the effects of DSME programmes are influenced by the patient’s HL. However, due to the limitations of this study, further investigation is necessary to support these findings and improve our understanding about the impact of HL on DSME programmes’ effectiveness.

KW - Health literacy

KW - patient education

KW - self-management education programmes

KW - type 2 diabetes

U2 - 10.1177/0017896917751554

DO - 10.1177/0017896917751554

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85042092921

SN - 0017-8969

VL - 77

SP - 349

EP - 362

JO - Health Education Journal

JF - Health Education Journal

IS - 3

ER -

The impact of health literacy on diabetes self-management education

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this