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Impact of diabetes continuing education on health care professionals’ attitudes towards diabetes care in a Yemeni city


Ibrahim Sales
Salmeen D Babelghaith
Syed Wajid
Mansour A Mahmoud
Suhair S Alsaleh
Saeed Alfadly
Weal H Mancy
Mohammed N Al-Arifi
Mohammed Saif Anaam

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the impact of a continuing education (CE) program on the attitudes of health care professionals (HCPs) towards diabetes care in Yemen.
Methods: A pre- and post-intervention study was carried out in Mukalla City, Hadramout, Yemen and was offered to all physicians, pharmacists, and nurses registered in the Health Office in the Mukalla City. The HCPs were invited to attend a CE program. All participants filled out a questionnaire before the intervention (pre-test) that measured the attitudes of the participants towards diabetes. An interventional program was given in the form of a seminar, and participants were requested to complete the same questionnaire after the seminar.
Results: A total of 73 HCPs attended the CE, including 19 pharmacists (26 %), 37 physicians (50.7 %), and 17 (23.3 %) nurses. The pre- and post-intervention changes in the questionnaire responses were significant only for attitude toward the values of blood glucose levels (p = 0.009) and attitude toward autonomy of diabetes patients (p = 0.023).
Conclusion: HCPs in Mukalla City have positive attitudes toward diabetes. Physicians were more aware of the sequelae of diabetes than other healthcare professional groups with nurses showing the least understanding. Therefore, more emphasis should be placed upon designing education programs for diabetes specifically tailored for nurses and pharmacists.

Keywords: Diabetes, Continuing education, Attitude, Health care professionals


Journal Identifiers


eISSN: 1596-9827
print ISSN: 1596-5996