A clinic based educational programme for children with diabetes

Annual review of the knowledge in 49 diabetic children (aged 8-14, mean 12 years) who are regular clinic attenders demonstrated poor theoretical and practical skills that were irrespective of the duration of diabetes. Two 6-hour educational sessions were organized using the novelty of self-made videos along with peer group participative education, assessed by questionnaires. The results showed that this method of education imparts information that is remembered short term, that knowledge can be improved to reach a standard similar to that achieved in diabetic camps, and that the problem-solving approach is more easily tackled in participative teaching. Our children who had previously attended British Diabetic Association Diabetes Camps showed a better general knowledge of their diabetes than non-attenders but did not show a better performance on problem solving approaches to day-to-day practical difficulties. Paediatric diabetes clinics should review the knowledge of their pre-adolescent and adolescent customers along with their problem solving skills and their practical skills. How to offer access to information to those children who obviously need further help should be reviewed.