[Evaluation of the type of education received by a diabetic population regarding the disease]

To determine the type of diabetic instruction (reading materials, talks and/or courses) received by a group of diabetics in relation to a series of personal variables such as gender, age, education, type of diabetes mellitus, length of time ill and type of treatment.

This was an observation study. Data was collected by means of a questionnaire filled in at a personal interview with the patients.

Out-patient hospital endocrinology clinics.

520 diabetic patients monitored in the out-patient clinics were selected at random. 35 were excluded because of their hearing, linguistic or psychological deficiencies. Only one patient refused to answer the questionnaire.

It was found that 63.07% of the patients surveyed had not done any reading or attended a course of diabetes training; 16.73% had been instructed through reading material and the remaining 20.19% had attended organised talks and/or courses about their illness. Additionally, there was statistically significant dependence between the kind of training received and patients' age (p < 0.001), educational level (p < 0.0001), the type of diabetes mellitus (p < 0.001), the length of time ill (p < 0.001) and the kind of treatment (p < 0.0001).

In general the diabetic patients studied were found to have a deficient level of training. Therefore it is extremely important to organise talks and/or educational courses on their condition with the aim of raising their level of understanding and thus improve their control of the illness.