The Effect of a Health Literacy Promotion Program on the Health Behaviors of Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Who Cannot Control Their Blood Sugar Levels at Bao Nam Ron Subdistrict Health Promoting Hospital, Phipun District, Nakhon Si Thammarat Province

Abstract

This quasi-experimental study employed a two-group pretest–posttest design to examine the effects of a health literacy promotion program on health behaviors and fasting blood glucose levels among patients with type 2 diabetes with inadequate glycemic control. The sample consisted of 60 participants, with 30 assigned to the experimental group and 30 to the control group. The experimental group participated in an 8-week health literacy promotion program comprising health education, access to and appraisal of health information, goal setting and self-management planning, individual follow-up, and reminders via the LINE application. The control group received usual care. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire, a health behavior questionnaire, and a fasting blood glucose record form. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the paired-samples t test, and the independent-samples t test, with the level of statistical significance set at .05.

          The results showed that, after the intervention, the experimental group’s mean overall health behavior score increased from 63.50 ± 7.21 to 80.07 ± 6.85 and was significantly higher than that of the control group (p < .001). The mean fasting blood glucose level decreased from 176.43 ± 22.58 to 139.20 ± 18.74 mg/dL and was significantly lower than that of the control group (p < .001). The findings indicate that the health literacy promotion program was effective in improving health behaviors and glycemic control among patients with type 2 diabetes with inadequate glycemic control.