Evaluating Diabetes Education: Are we measuring the most important outcomes?

It is concluded that program evaluations to date have focused too narrowly on assessing knowledge and GHb outcomes to the exclusion of other important variables and is recommended that future evaluations do the following: report on the program's target population, recruitment methods, and representativeness of participants.

Abstract

This article reviews the published literature on diabetes education evaluations and makes recommendations for outcome measures to be used in future research. We conclude that program evaluations to date have focused too narrowly on assessing knowledge and GHb outcomes to the exclusion of other important variables. To reflect the changing emphasis and conceptual basis of diabetes education, we recommend that future evaluations do the following: 1) report on the program's target population, recruitment methods, and representativeness of participants; 2) collect measures of self-efficacy and patient-provider interaction; 3) include quality of life and patient-functioning outcomes; and 4) use more standardized and objective measures of diabetes management behaviors. We close by providing practical examples of feasible collection measures for most settings and references to studies that have done so.