The Use of Social Media in Diabetes Education

Abstract

Abstract Millions of people in America have diabetes and this disease is a growing concern nationally. Education can be used as a tool to decrease the instance of diabetes and increase diabetes self-management. The primary care site selected for the project offers an in-house diabetes education program with a participation rate of about 17%. Through offering an alternative to a traditional classroom education the goal is to educate more diabetics. A group of 50 diabetic patients were given the opportunity to complete free online diabetes education modules through Joslin.org. The self-guided modules were scheduled to be completed over an 8-week period. Participants completed a diabetes empowerment survey (DES-SF) prior to the first module and at eight weeks completion. The purpose of the DES-SF was to obtain a baseline of the participants’ perception of their diabetes self-management ability. To keep participants on track with module completion they received weekly module completion reminders through the primary care provider patient portals. Participant’s responses to pre and post DES-SF survey and pre and post Hemoglobin A1C were compared to evaluate for improvement at the completion of the project. Results from the review revealed, all participants decreased their Hemoglobin A1C and surveys showed an increase in the perception of diabetes self-management without increased cost to patients or providers.