Abstract

Approximately 11 million people are affected with acute and chronic complications of diabetes. An estimated $20 billion is spent annually on the diagnosis and management of diabetes. Client adherence to self-care practice is essential to the control of diabetes. The self-care practice of injecting insulin is imperative for the management of both patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Teaching modalities which effectively increase patient knowledge about insulin administration need to be developed and implemented. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine whether individualized instructions or audiovisual instructions increased the knowledge of insulin administration practices in older adults. Knowles' Theory of Adult Learning and King's Theory of Goal Attainment were used as frameworks to guide this study. Data were collected using a researcher-designed tool. Eleven participants were selected from two metropolitan hospitals located in either an inpatient or outpatient educational setting. The majority of the sample were female (72.7%), African American (63.6%), between the ages iii of 61 and 70 years (63.6%), and all were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. This quasi-experimental design utilized a pretest-posttest model. The researcher-designed tool was used to collect data. The two teaching interventions used in the study were individualized and audiovisual instructions. Both interventions included learning objectives with structured content, return demonstrations, and immediate evaluations. Data were analyzed using a two- tailed independent t test. There was no statistical significance in posttest scores between participants provided with individualized and audiovisual instructions (p = .301) . There were excellent return demonstrations by the participants with an average of 10 out of 11 on the performance checklist. Regardless of the teaching modalities implemented during the study, participants achieved increased knowledge levels about insulin administration evidenced by increase in knowledge (posttest) scores (p = .009). Results indicate that teaching intervention does improve knowledge level about insulin administration and performance skills for older adults. Identifying learning needs of older adults can facilitate their responses in collaborating with the I V physician and adhering to treatment plans. This study should be replicated with a larger sample size and multiple teaching modality options for older adults.

Degree

Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)

Department

Graduate Nursing

Degree Date

8-1-1998

Publication Number

27924556

First Advisor

Lorraine Hamm

Second Advisor

Mary Patricia Curtis

Third Advisor

Kay Dennis

Document Type

Thesis

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Nursing Commons

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