Date of Conferral

2017

Degree

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

School

Nursing

Advisor

Andrea R. Jennings-Sanders

Abstract

Over the past few decades, there has been an increase in prevalence of diabetes in the United States. Prevention of diabetes and improving patients' knowledge and awareness of diabetes are crucial for healthcare providers. Using the Health Belief Model (HBM) as a theoretical foundation, the student used the National Diabetes Prevention Program (NDPP) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to improve awareness and knowledge of diabetes among obese individuals with prediabetes. The key research question of this project was to determine whether the patients' diabetes knowledge and awareness improved after the NDPP program. A convenience sample of 30 participants was recruited from patients seeking care at a family practice clinic. Data collection was conducted using the Michigan Diabetes Research and Training Center's Diabetes Knowledge Test (DKT). Pretest and posttests were used to evaluate improvement in the participants' knowledge and awareness after administration of education sessions. The t-tests indicated a significant improvement in the patients' knowledge (p < 0.000) and awareness (p < 0.000) of diabetes after the NDPP program. Thus, the NDPP program was effective in improving the patients' diabetes knowledge and awareness. The nationwide adoption of the NDPP program was recommended to reduce the rate of diabetes among high risk individuals. The implication of this Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) project to social change was that improving knowledge and awareness of diabetes among obese patients with prediabetes would increase their participation in lifestyle and behavioral modification programs, thus, improving the control of blood sugar levels.

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