The effect of a diabetes education program on social support, diabetes knowledge level, blood glucose level, and weight among noninsulin-dependent diabetics

The effect of a diabetes education program on social support, diabetes knowledge level, blood glucose level, and weight of 60 noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus male and female individuals was assessed during a 10-week period. Twenty subjects each were randomly assigned to the education with a social support person present (E+SS) group, the education with no social support present (E-SS) group, and the control group. The social support person was either a family member or friend. Data were analyzed by two-way ANOVAs with repeated measures and t tests for related and independent samples. At the end of the 3-week education program, no significant differences were found between groups on any of the variables measured. Significant differences were found in (a) diabetes knowledge level scores of group E+SS from pretest to posttest 1 and group E-SS from pretest to posttest 2 and (b) blood glucose levels of group E-SS from pretest to posttest 2.