Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Due to the chronic nature of the diabetes, patients who suffer from this disease need education to take care of themselves and increase self-care. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of comparing the effect of e-learning and teach-back methods on the performance of diabetic patients. METHODS: In this study, 144 patients with type 2 diabetes were selected based on purposive sampling. Considering the inclusion and exclusion criteria, the subjects were divided into two groups of intervention (n = 48) and control (n = 48) by simple randomization. The two intervention groups included the e-learning group whose subjects were trained by entering the training site for three months and the teach-back group whose subjects were trained during four 60-minute sessions for three months. The control group was followed up according to routine care. Before and one month after the intervention, data were collected using self-care questionnaires in the areas of knowledge and performance based on interviews and blood glucose tests and self-reporting. The data were analyzed using SPSS 21 and statistical tests of ANOVA, independent t and Pearson's correlation coefficient. RESULTS: The results showed that both e-learning (P = 0.001) and teach-back training (P = 0.008) methods were associated with a significant increase in self-care compared to before the intervention, but only in the teach-back group, this increase was significant compared to control group(P = 0.002) and the training methods showed no significant effect on blood sugar level and BMI of the patients (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: The results of the present study showed that both electronic and teach-back training methods have been effective on the level of self-care of diabetic patients. However, the teach-back method had a greater impact on the level of self-care.