The Teachers' Knowledge of Type 1 Diabetes in Schools: An Interventional Study

Managing type 1 diabetes in school is a real challenge for teachers, parents, and students themselves. Involving school educators in providing care and support is becoming more of a necessity than a luxury to facilitate access to healthcare services in schools for children with type 1 diabetes.

Our work aimed to assess the background knowledge of teachers on type 1 diabetes and evaluate the impact of an educational intervention in improving this knowledge.

We included 346 participants working in elementary schools in Oujda City, Morocco. We collected data on anonymous data sheets. Then, a first pre-coded questionnaire was distributed to the participants to assess their background knowledge of type 1 diabetes. Afterward, a simplified educational session was delivered to them. Subsequently, the same pre-coded questionnaire was distributed for evaluation after education.

Around 84% of the participants recognized polyuria and polydipsia as major signs of diabetes. Only 35.3% of them knew the definition of hypoglycemia. Hyperglycemia was identified by 65% of the participants. About 40% believed children cannot exercise, while 55.5% thought taking free sugar before exercise was mandatory. We found a significant correlation between a good level of knowledge and knowing a person with diabetes (aOR=2.66, CI95%: 1.51- 4.70, p=0.001). There was a significant improvement in knowledge after the educational intervention (p=0.0001).

Our study showed a lack of information about type 1 diabetes among teachers. We also proved the effectiveness of targeted education in correcting misconceptions and encouraging awareness of type 1 diabetes.