The Effect of Peer Coaches Education on Self –care Activities and its Related Confidence in Adolescents with Type I Diabetes Mellitus: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Abstract

Abstract: Introduction: Diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases in adolescence. The importance of such behavior is that their non – compliance with short –term and long –term is a serious consequences on the health of adolescents. Motivated and self –confidence in self –care as well as adversarial is a key factor in achieving treatment goals for specific tasks to achieve the desired goal. Various studies have shown that adolescents' relationships with peers improved management of diabetes, including behaviors related to adherence to medication, diet, and exercise and blood sugar. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the impact pf peer educators training on self -care activities in adolescents with type I diabetes. Methods: In this clinical trial, 60 adolescents with type I diabetes participated and were randomly divided into two groups of intervening (n=30) and control (n=30). Intervention included training by peer educators during the three sessions of 2 hours. Data collection tool were Questionnaire for self –care activities in diabetes and the Confidence in Diabetes Self –care Scale that were answered before and one month after as interview. The data were analyzed by statistical; software SPSS. Results: The results showed that in self –care activities, except for the item "space carbohydrates evenly through the day" and "recommended diabetes medication "there was no significant difference between the mean difference between pretest and posttest of teens in two groups. Also there was no significant difference between participants in following self –care recommendations. And in Confidence in Diabetes Self –care there was a significant difference between mean scores of pre –test post –test, there were two groups of adolescents. Conclusion: Training by peer educators has not have a much impact on self –care behaviors among adolescents with type I diabetes and conversely has a positive impact on their Confidence in Diabetes Self –care. It is recommend that further studies are conducted on other influences of training peer educators.