No abstract

This study aimed to test the effects of providing Web-based diabetes education to individuals with type 2 diabetes on the A1c level and health check attendance. The study participants comprised 122 individuals with type 2 diabetes, who had access to the Internet, had completed their basic diabetes education, and had similar basic situational factors. Using a randomization method, these participants were chosen from the patients being monitored by the diabetes nurses. The experimental group (n = 61) was monitored via the Web. From measurements recorded in the sixth month of monitoring, we found that A1c levels of the individuals with diabetes who were monitored through the Web decreased (t = 6.63; P < .05), and the rate of attending health check visits increased (z = 5.97; P< .05), while no difference was detected in the control group (t = -0.63; P = .534; z = -0.80; P = .426). To maintain glycemic control, Web use could be adopted as a complementary tool for monitoring individuals with diabetes.

The aim of this study was to investigate use of complementary and alternative medicines, and factors that affect use of these agents, in individuals with diabetes. This cross-sectional and descriptive study was performed at the outpatient clinics of four hospitals in Turkey with 396 diabetic individuals between October 2006 and March 2007. In this study, 34.6% of the participants were using complementary and alternative medicine in addition to conventional medicine; 73% of these individuals had not informed their doctors and nurses about their complementary and alternative medicine practice. Nurses, as health care providers, should not ignore complementary and alternative medicine options. Instead, they should try to determine the rate of complementary and alternative medicine use among their patients and understand their effects and the reasons for use of these agents. Nurses should learn more about these medicines and educate their patients.

The purpose of this study was to determine herbal therapies used by the patients for regulation of blood pressure. This descriptive study was conducted in three districts of Izmir, Turkey. The study group included 193 patients with hypertension diagnosis who admitted to a primary care center and accepted to participate in the study. Data were collected through an investigator-made questionnaire including questions about socio-demographic features and herbal therapies used for regulation of blood pressure. Percentiles and chi-square statistics tests were used to evaluate the data through SPSS 11.0 program. The subjects included in the study had suffered from hypertension for 8.28+7.92 years, and 95.9% of them received medication to treat their hypertension. Of all hypertensive patients, 51.3% used herbal therapies for the treatment of hypertension. The patients used herbal therapies most commonly when they felt ill. There were no statistically significant difference between the use of herbal therapies and gender, education, marital status, having health insurance and income level. Health professionals who provide primary health services, especially nurses, need to follow patients regularly and provide patient education on antihypertensive therapy. Nurses must plan the necessary training programs by evaluating the data about, whether the hypertension patients use herbal therapies that can affect their health negatively or not.