Managing the Daily Life of Individuals With Diabetes

Summary of Teaching Plan

The suggested teaching plan covers the topic of primary prevention and health promotion. The health problem it comprises is diabetes. The topic of this teaching series is “Managing the Daily Life of Individuals with Diabetes.” Its target aggregate is middle-aged Hispanic male population 36-55 years old. The teaching plan includes epidemiological rationale, involves nursing diagnoses relevant to the major diagnosis, analyses readiness to learning, introduces learning theory to be used, and formulates the goal.

The suggested learning theory for this plan is the transtheoretical model. It is frequently regarded as the stages of change model (“The transtheoretical model,” 2016). It can be utilized within learning interventions to reveal the ability of people to change their life in case of necessity, trace the advancements the learners make, and check the maintenance of the developed habits and behaviors. Also, the mentioned theory is useful for understanding the reasons for some individuals failing to preserve healthy behaviors even despite possessing enough data about opportunities to change and the consequences of unhealthy lifestyles. It is particularly important for patients with diabetes who continue eating not healthy and make no efforts to improve their condition after they are diagnosed.

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The goal for this teaching plan is based on the one published by Healthy People 2020 program (Healthy People 2020, 2018). It implies the reduction of diabetes burden and improvement of the quality of life for individuals with diabetes or prediabetes. Behavioral objectives and the related content, as well as strategies and methods, are integral to this teaching plan. Thus, the major objectives are to teach learners to differentiate habits and activities that are useful and dangerous for diabetes; to explain to them the mechanism of diabetes development and the opportunities for managing this condition; to discover the possible outcomes of diabetes based on the real examples, and develop personal daily care plans that will assist the learners after the program is finished.

Epidemiological Rationale for the Topic

Diabetes is a burning problem of American society, with millions of people affected all over the country. Thus, as of 2015, there were 30.3 million Americans with diabetes, which makes 9.4 percent of the whole population (American Diabetes Association, 2018). In fact, 1.5 million people are diagnosed with diabetes annually in the United States. Moreover, diabetes is considered to be the seventh leading cause of death in the country (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017). According to data provided by the National Center for Health Statistics (2017), during the years 2011-2014, more than 12.6% of Americans older than 20 had diabetes. A significant factor for this epidemiological rationale comprises racial/ethnic disparities in diabetes prevalence. Thus, Whites and Asians are at a lower risk of having diabetes than Hispanics, African Americans, and American Indians / Alaskan Natives. For example, only 7.4 percent of the non-Hispanic white population have diabetes, while 12.1 percent of Hispanics have diabetes or prediabetes (American Diabetes Association, 2018). Moreover, gender is also a factor that influences diabetes prevalence. Thus, 1.6 percent of Hispanic men have this disease compared to 11.7 percent of Hispanic women (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017). Consequently, the topic for this teaching plan addresses the healthcare needs of one of the most vulnerable population groups.

Evaluation of Teaching Experience

This teaching experience is based on work with volunteering patients with diabetes on the basis of the community health center. It is a beneficial experience because no one from the group of learners has ever been involving in similar education interventions, which makes the assessment of teaching outcomes more relevant. On the whole, it can be concluded that the teaching objectives were achieved. The lessons were conducted according to the initial plan with the use of the necessary tools and methods. Still, not all of the selected strategies were effective from the beginning. For example, discussion as a tool was not working at its full potential during the first classes when the participants were complete strangers. To some extent, it was an unusual experience due to the diversity of the group. Thus, despite the fact that they all were Hispanics, the participants were of different ages and came from different social backgrounds.

The participants were generally interested in the suggested activities. The most active cooperation was observed at the lessons dedicated to useful and harmful habits of diabetes patients as well as at those revealing diabetes causes. The least involvement was observed while investigating the case studies. It should be mentioned that visual aids were beneficial, and information supported with visual elements was better accepted compared to the plain oral presentation. The creative part of teaching, which included the development of personal care plans, proved to be successful as well. It allowed the participants to apply the theory they had learned to practice and obtain a practical outcome of learning that can be used to make their daily routines easier.

Community Response to Teaching

Community response to teaching was generally positive. The community health center selected for teaching implementation provided rooms and funded the materials. The participants were expected to volunteer to join the program. Although the response rate was low due to the fact that the target population includes middle-aged men who are actively employed, the group was complete within three days. Even though some lessons were conducted during working hours, community employers allowed their staff members to participate without losing their salary, which also stimulated the volunteers. On the whole, 17 participants volunteered to join the teaching program for diabetes, and 16 of them completed the course. This teaching intervention encouraged further interest in health education among the community members. Thus, a similar project can be implemented after the necessary improvements are provided.

Areas of Strengths and Areas of Improvement

The suggested teaching plan has both strengths and weaknesses or areas for improvement. The first strength is that it targets a vulnerable population. Evidently, those population groups that are at a higher risk of having diabetes should receive more support from the community. Such an approach is expected to reduce the severity of diabetes problems and provide a better quality of life for individuals involved in patient education interventions. Secondly, the important strength is that the plan comprises both theoretical and practical aspects, thus allowing the learners to study some important facts and apply them to practice.

Still, the plan has some areas that need improvement. First of all, it is necessary to review the mechanism of selecting participants because volunteering after a presentation may not be effective with other communities. Therefore, such approaches as personal invitations or recruiting through physicians can be considered and tested. Another area to be improved is the content of teaching. Although there is no need to make it more complicated, some aspects can be included. For example, such a significant issue for diabetes as comorbid conditions and diseases can be involved to provide learners with a broader information range because comorbidities determine peculiarities of diabetes management. On the whole, the teaching plan can be successfully implemented among diabetes patients after the necessary improvements are provided. Moreover, a similar structure can be used for another age group or a different health condition. Still, peculiarities of every group such as age, gender, and ethnicity should be taken into account to develop an efficient teaching plan able to address a definite health problem and improve patient outcomes.