[Group versus individual education for type-2 diabetes patients]

To compare the effectiveness of group (GE) and individual (IE) health education in type-2 diabetes patients, and identify the improvement in knowledge, metabolic control and risk factors.

Randomised clinical trial.

Primary care.Participants. 68 patients with type-2 diabetes, diagnosed 6 months before the start of the study and who had not received GE. Patients aged over 75, those with sensory, psychological and/or physical deficiencies and those not monitored in primary care were excluded (alpha=0.05; beta=0.2).Interventions. Patients were selected according to the inclusion criteria and allocated at random to the IE (n=33) or GE (n=35) group. Individual and group lessons were given at the same time for a year. The contents were evaluated with a validated, self-administered test.

General, demographic variables, analyses, blood pressure, the Body Mass Index (BMI), the presence of cardiovascular risk factors, diabetes-related complications and therapeutic variables were all measured.

The two kinds of education showed no significant differences from each other. The two groups improved the level of knowledge (P<0.001), and reduced HbA1c (P<0.001), HDL-C (P<0.001), the BMI (P=0.001) and systolic pressure (P=0.004), and increased their use of reactive strips (P=0.02).

Health education on diabetes improved knowledge of the disease, metabolic control and cardiovascular risk factors. The two educational methods evaluated were equally effective.