Improving Care for Patients With Diabetes and Poor Numeracy Skills

Diabetes Clinical Trial

Official title: Improving Care for Patients With Diabetes and Poor Numeracy Skills

Status Completed

Clinical Trial Summary

The aim of this research will be to perform a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a new diabetes educational intervention that teaches self-management skills that compensate for poor numeracy skills among a sample of patients with diabetes and low numeracy.

Clinical Trial Description

Results of the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) suggest that over 90 million adult Americans have poor quantitative skills. Numeracy, the ability to understand and use numbers and math skills in daily life, may be particularly important to patients with diabetes because caring for diabetes often requires self-management skills that rely on the daily application of math skills, such as counting carbohydrates, interpreting blood glucose monitoring, applying sliding scale insulin regimens, and calculating insulin to carbohydrate ratios. Presumably diabetes patients with poor numeracy have more difficulty with self-management and are at risk for poorer clinical outcomes, but to date, there are no published studies that rigorously examine the role of numeracy in diabetes. We have recently completed the initial development of a new scale to measure numeracy in patients with diabetes: the Diabetes Numeracy Test (DNT).

The aim of this research will be to perform a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a new diabetes educational intervention that teaches self-management skills that compensate for poor numeracy skills among a sample of patients with diabetes and low numeracy. We hypothesize that a group of patients with poor numeracy who are taught self-management skills that accommodate their poor numeracy will have: (1) improved treatment satisfaction and perceived self-efficacy, (2) improved performance in self-management tasks, and (3) improved glycemic control compared to a control group that receives usual education. ;

Study Design

Allocation: Randomized, Intervention Model: Single Group Assignment, Masking: Open Label, Primary Purpose: Health Services Research

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Diabetes

• NCT number: NCT00311922
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: Vanderbilt University
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: March 2006
• Completion date: December 2007