Background: Patients and relatives currently increasingly demand more information and support, not only from the diabetes team but also from alternative new sources such as patient association groups and websites. Aim: To evaluate the impact and acceptability of intensive, interactive therapeutic education seminars conducted with different autonomous communities in Spain. Patients: Patients with type 1 diabetes from a number of autonomous communities in Spain were included from 2003-2006 (inclusion criteria: aged from 18-50 years, type 1 diabetes progression > 1 year). Method: Information on the seminars was provided through websites, diabetes teams and patient associations. The programme design and topics discussed were based on surveys to determine patient interests. The programme was designed from an interdisciplinary perspective, based on the topics most frequently selected by the patients: diabetes, sport, psychological and legal aspects. The seminars were held on weekends with the following structure: presentation and discussion of patient expectations; the diabetes knowledge test (DKQ2) was undertaken; topic development followed the problem-based learning method, DKQ2 was repeated and an opinion questionnaire was distributed at the end of the seminar. Results: One hundred and fifty-one patients with type 1 diabetes were included. Seminar information was obtained through patient associations (52%); websites (27%), diabetes teams (11%) and other sources (10%). The scores of the initial and final DKQ2 tests were 26.6±4.2 and 29.2±2.9, respectively (p=0.001). The global evaluation of the opinion questionnaire (scores from 1 to 7) was 6.5±0.1. A total of 100% of the patients would recommend the seminar and 98% would attend future seminars.
Conclusion:
These results suggest that interactive therapeutic education seminars, conducted in separate autonomous communities and adapted to specific group needs, may be a good alternative to complement the current therapeutic education programmes provided in diabetes centres in Spain.