[Analysis of knowledge, habits and skills in a diabetic population childhood: nursing intervention]

Large researches have tried to verify the efficiency of the educational intervention in patients suffering from type 1 diabetes (T1D).

Analyzing the initial knowledge about diet habits and physical exercise, confirming a possible improvement of the level of this knowledge after the educational intervention and verifying the acquisition of skills related to self-analysis and self-injection.

32 subjects with T1D, from 4 to 14 years old in Melilla were included. The knowledge about diet and physical exercise were analyzed using a questionnaire. Diet habits were evaluated using the KrecePlus questionnaire. An educational intervention was offered and that knowledge was analysed again, as well as the skills acquired about self-analysis and self-injection with a new questionnaire.

After the intervention, the knowledge about diet and physical exercise significantly improved (p < 0,0001). The results also showed an improvement in diet habits and physical exercise. The study of self-analysis and self-injection skills evidenced that the subjects were independent in the processes of blood glucose self-analysis and insulin self-injection.

An educational intervention developed by a nurse is an effective procedure to improve and increase the knowledge about diet, physical exercise and about the disease in diabetic type 1 diabetic, as well as an incentive to acquire healthy habits about diet and physical exercise.