Educational intervention to promote self-care in older adults with diabetes mellitus. / Intervenção educativa para a promoção do autocuidado de idosos com diabetes mellitus.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of an educational nursing intervention in self-care for older adults who have Diabetes Mellitus. METHOD: A quasi-experimental study with control and intervention two groups conducted with older adults living with Diabetes Mellitus, attended at Primary Health Care Units of Fortaleza/Ceará. The intervention was a group educational approach with guidelines on diabetes treatment and foot care. The Brazilian adapted version of the Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities Questionnaire (SDSCA) was used for evaluating before-and-after self-care. A significance level of 0.05 was considered. RESULTS: 103 older adults participated in the study. There was an increase in self-care for diabetes after the educational intervention related to the aspects healthy diet (p = 0.027), dietary instruction (p = 0.013) and foot examination (p = 0.012). CONCLUSION: The performed intervention promoted positive behavioral changes, favoring the adoption of healthy habits and the promotion of self-care in older adult patients with Diabetes Mellitus.