Effect of Continuous Care Model on Self-care Behaviors in Patients with Diabetes

The incidence of diabetes as one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality is on a growing trend. The key to diabetes treatment is to train self-care behaviors. We aimed to determine the effect of the continuous care model on self-care behaviors of diabetic patients.
This clinical trial was performed on 80 patients with diabetes who were selected through purposive sampling and randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. A demographic form and the self-care behaviors questionnaire for diabetic patients were used to collect the data. The intervention group was followed up based on the continuous care model from the beginning of July to the end of August. During this time, the control group only received the routine care. After completing the intervention, the questionnaires were completed again, and the obtained data were analyzed by Mann-Whitney and Wilcoxon statistical tests.
Mean self-care scores of patients in the control and intervention groups were 36.42 and 39.32, respectively, which did not show any significant differences (P=0.28). After the intervention, the mean self-care scores of the control and intervention groups were 37.95 and 55.22, respectively, indicating significant intergroup differences (P=0.001).
The continuous care model can be used as an effective method to promote self-care behaviors in diabetic patients.