The effect of transitional caring model implementation on self-care in patients with type II diabetes

Diabetes is a chronic disease that can negatively affect quality of life as well as physical and mental health. Self-care plays a crucial role in controlling the disease and reducing its complications. The Transitional Care Model is likely to improve self-care. Therefore, this study was designed and conducted to evaluate the effect of the Transitional Care Model on self-care behaviors in patients with type 2 diabetes.

This study was a single center quasi-experimental conducted on 50 hospitalized patients with diabetes in the Endocrinology Department of Imam Khomeini Hospital, Tehran. After obtaining ethical approval code (IR.TUMS.FNM.REC.1398.124) Participants were randomly assigned to an intervention or control group using simple random allocation. The intervention group received transitional program implemented in three phases: the pre-discharge phase, weeks 1-3 after discharge, and week 4 after discharge. After eight weeks, both groups completed the self-care questionnaire. Collected data were analyzed using statistical tests in SPSS version 16.

The two groups were homogeneous in terms of demographic and selfcare variables in the pre-test (p > 0.05). However, based on t-test results, there were significant statistical differences in selfcare between the two group 8 weeks after intervention (p < 0.05). Sensitivity analysis adjusted for baseline characteristics (age, gender, education, marital status, occupation, economic status, living with family, disease duration, and family history) confirmed the robustness of the findings. The intervention effect remained statistically significant after adjustment (P < 0.001), with a large effect size (Partial Eta Squared = 0.643).

The findings demonstrate that transitional care, by increasing patients' knowledge and access to healthcare providers, leads to improved self-care among patients with type 2 diabetes. Based on the results of this research, incorporating transitional care into the routine programs of hospitals and healthcare centers could enhance the level of self-care in patients.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40200-026-02040-0.