The Effect of Peer Education on Self-Care Behaviors and the Mean of Glycosylated Hemoglobin in Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial.
Mitra Edraki, Afsaneh Zarei, Mitra Soltanian and 1 others
PMID 32656273WHAT IT FOUND
Adolescents with type 1 diabetes who received peer-led diabetes education had better self-care and lower glycosylated hemoglobin at 3 months than those receiving routine clinic training.
Peer educators were trained patients.
Key findings
01The peer-led group education intervention improved self-care behaviours and lowered glycosylated hemoglobin compared with routine clinic training at 3 months.
02The peer-education group showed significant increases in self-care scores and significant reductions in glycosylated hemoglobin from before to 3 months after training.
03The routine-training control group showed a significant increase in glycosylated hemoglobin over the same period.
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 study was single-centre and involved adolescents aged 12-18 years with type 1 diabetes and glycosylated hemoglobin higher than 7.5%, so it may not apply to younger children, adults, type 2 diabetes, or other clinics. Follow-up was only 3 months, and the authors noted a lack of follow-up, so longer-term effects are unknown. Six control-group patients and six intervention-group patients were excluded during the study. A self-care subscale differed before the intervention, so the adjusted comparison is important. The intervention included peer-led group discussion, question-and-answer teaching, booklets, and supervision, so it is unclear which component mattered most.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that peer education alone will improve diabetes control in all adolescents. The trial was single-centre, had only 3-month follow-up, and the intervention bundled peer-led group discussion, question-and-answer teaching, booklets, and supervision, so the active component and long-term effect are not established.