Effectiveness of an Educational Program on the Knowledge of Parents of Children with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus about Methods of Insulin Injection in Specialized Diabetic and Endocrine Glands Center at Al-Nasiriyah City

Background: Diabetes mellitus is one of the world's oldest known diseases. Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a clinical syndrome characterized by hyperglycemia. Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is the most common chronic metabolic disease in childhood. Diabetics and their families have to learn wide varieties of technical and cognitive skills to maintain good glycemic control. Objectives: Determine the effect of the health education program in enhancing the knowledge of parents of children with type 1 diabetes mellitus about methods of insulin injection. Methodology: The study was designed as quasi-experiment for study group (30) and control group (30) participants’ parents of children with type 1 diabetes mellitus being tested in three periods pre-test, post-test-1, and posttest-2. The study group participants are tested prior implementing the educational program (the educational program lectures started from 3rd – 5th of February, 2020) then after period they are tested post-test-1(in 9th February, 2020) then after a while the post-test-2 had been conducted (in 24th February, 2020). The control group participants are provided with the same questionnaire to answer, the pre-test conducted in same time of the pre-test of study group conducted while the post-test-1 conducted (in 10th February, 2020) and the post-test-2 conducted (in 25th February, 2020), but without enrollment in educational program. Results: The study outcomes include low in assessment of parents’ knowledge prior the educational program and became high-assessment after participation in the program. This is not applied on control group in which participants remain within low-assessment for three periods of testing each test. Conclusion: Parents knowledge regarding methods of insulin injection has been improved after implementation of the educational program in the study group, which reveal that the effectiveness of the provided program was highly beneficial. Recommendations: Encouraging parents for more involvement in seminars and educational sessions on diabetes mellitus especially the methods to inject insulin and how to deal with Sick child.