Comparison of education group strategies and home visits in type 2 diabetes mellitus: clinical trial.
Jéssica Caroline Dos Santos, Daniel Nogueira Cortez, Maísa Mara Lopes Macedo and 3 others
PMID 29267547WHAT IT FOUND
Group education improved self-care, empowerment and blood sugar control in adults with diabetes.
Home visits improved self-care and empowerment but did not lower blood sugar. For blood sugar, group education was the clearer option.
Key findings
01Group education with telephone support improved self-care, empowerment and blood sugar control, while home visits with telephone support did not lower blood sugar.
02Group education had the clearest blood sugar advantage over usual care and home visits in adults with longer diabetes duration.
03Both educational strategies improved self-care adherence and empowerment, but empowerment did not differ among groups.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The groups were not balanced for how long patients had diabetes, so comparisons had to be split and became smaller. The study was done in one Brazilian city with its own sociodemographic profile. Patients' cognitive or intellectual capacity was not considered. The researchers who delivered the education also collected the data. Some patients were dropped if they did not attend the minimum sessions.
Declared interests
Funding came from Brazilian research agencies; the text reports no commercial conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that home visits lower blood sugar. They improved self-care and empowerment, but the study did not find a reduction in blood sugar.