Evaluation of the Impact of a Diabetes Education Curriculum for School Personnel on Disease Knowledge and Confidence in Caring for Students

Abstract

BACKGROUND: School personnel may lack knowledge of diabetes and be unprepared to address the needs of students with type 1 diabetes. This project evaluated the effectiveness of a type 1 diabetes education program for school personnel on increasing knowledge of diabetes and confidence in caring for students with diabetes. METHODS: Two types of diabetes education programs were created for school personnel. The basic program provided a 60‐minute overview of diabetes. The expanded program, intended for volunteer health aides, provided participants with a more in‐depth overview of diabetes during a 180‐minute session, including demonstrations of how to assist students with insulin injections. Instruments were created to assess changes in diabetes‐related knowledge and confidence in caring for students. Separate knowledge instruments were created for the basic and expanded programs. Knowledge instruments were administered before and after delivery of the education programs to both groups. Confidence instruments were administered before and after for persons completing the expanded program. RESULTS: A total of 81 school personnel participated in the basic (N = 44) or expanded programs (N = 37). Overall knowledge regarding diabetes significantly increased in both the basic and expanded programs from baseline (p < .001). Confidence in caring for students with diabetes also increased from pretest to posttest, both for overall confidence and each individual item (p < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Educational programs offered for school personnel can lead to increased knowledge and increased confidence in caring for students with diabetes, which may assist school personnel in addressing the needs of students with diabetes.

Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the H.A.N.D.S.SM Program

“…The findings of this analysis are in accordance with other studies examining similar education programs related to diabetes management in that they all demonstrated an increase in knowledge, confidence, and ability of attendees to effectively provide care to students with diabetes (Bachman & Hsueh, 2008;Bobo, Kaup, McCarty, & Carlson, 2011;Smith et al, 2012). Bachman and Hsueh (2008) concluded that it is necessary for school nurses to have the opportunity to receive updated information on diabetes management for children through CE.…”

Children With Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus: Self‐Management Experiences in School

“…Lectures and educational flyers are strategies to inform and guide the school staff decision‐making process while facing difficulties and emergencies, lowering the typical stress to these situations . Consequently, increased confidence in the school staff's to care for T1DM children is observed . National and international organizations have made educational T1DM booklets available to inform school staffs.…”

Teachers' perspectives of supporting pupils with long-term health conditions in mainstream schools: a narrative review of the literature

“…, Smith et al . ). These findings are based on the delivery of education programmes to small samples of participants and do not include control groups.…”