Methodology
Extraneous variables and how they will be controlled
Extraneous are variables that are not of interest to the research or an experiment and have an effect of adding an error to the final research outcomes and findings (Burns & Grove, 2010). In this regard, it is imperative to control the effect of these variables in order to reduce the magnitude of their effect (Burns & Grove, 2010). Among the extraneous variables apparent to this study include; age, adverse effects due to medication as well as treatment duration. The purpose of this research is essentially to test the effectiveness of patient education as a health promotion strategy for diabetes management. This means that this education would foster self-management of diabetes and self-efficacy. The above-mentioned variables may have an impact on the self-efficacy abilities of the participants. For instance, age, adverse effects from diabetes drugs as well as duration of treatment can impair self-efficacy aspects such as physical exercise and dietary control. Age is believably a barrier to active participation in physical exercise and can significantly affects patient’s cognitive abilities, hence rendering education less effective. Adverse drug effects such as drowsiness can equally impair physical activity patterns. As such as a control measure for reducing the impact of the extraneous variables, it would be appropriate to use a sampling approach (inclusion/exclusion criteria) that ensures that the participants bear minimal risk of interference from the above-mentioned threats. This would mean that a sample between the ages of 18 to 65 would be used so as to minimize the impact of age and ensure that all the participants have stable response to the current medications.
Instruments
The diabetes management self-efficacy scale (DMSES) is the only instruments that would be used in this study for the purposes of subjective data collection. The DMSES is a 20-item questionnaire which comes in both Dutch and English versions, purposely intended to collect information related to patient’s perceived levels of self-management and self-efficacy (Sturt, Hearnshaw & Wakelin, 2010). The questions are designed in a manner that helps in collecting data on diabetes self-management components such as physical exercise patterns, dietary management patterns, and consultation with the physician as well as the general confidence levels in relation to the management of the condition. A sizeable amount of tests that have been undertaken to determine the validity and reliability of this tool, have all found a point of convergence that the tool has a high level of validity and hence reliable for research purposes and data collection. For instance, according to a study by Sturt, Hearnshaw & Wakelin (2010) which intended to test the validity and the reliability of the tool, the DMSES was associated with high levels of internal consistency and reliability as well as good criterion, construct validity plus good test-retest reliability. According to Sturt, Hearnshaw & Wakelin (2010), intra-class correlation for a total of 67 participants was 77%, showing good test-retest reliability. Additionally, the correlation co-efficient between the total scores and the item scores was >0.30 (Sturt, Hearnshaw & Wakelin, 2010). The Cronbach’s alpha for the DMSES was 89% for all the items (Sturt, Hearnshaw & Wakelin, 2010).
Intervention
This study would utilize case-control as a design, meaning that two groups (intervention group and the control group) of participants have to exist. The intervention group would be subjected to health promotion education on the various diabetes management approaches such as dietary management and physical exercise while the control group would receive no intervention-meaning that the health promotion intervention would not be provided to the control group during the research period. The outcomes for the two groups would be obtained and this would rely on various measures such as the perceived quality of life (QOL) of the participants, self-reported self-efficacy abilities and health outcomes, participants’ subjective account of perceived levels of confidence with regard to diabetes management and health as well as objective data such as the occurrence rates/risk levels for diabetes co-morbidities such as dyslipidemia, hypertension and heart attack.
Data collection procedures
This study will utilize both subjective and objective data collection methods. For the subjective aspect of data collection, the diabetes management self-efficacy scale would be used whereby the participants would be subjected to a total of 20 questionnaire items provided by the instrument and subsequently fill the sections provided. On the other hand, objective data related to participants’ occurrence/risk levels of diabetes co-morbidities would be obtained from the individual participant’s health records.
References
Burns, N., & Grove, S. K. (2010). Understanding nursing research: Building an evidence-based practice. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Sturt, J., Hearnshaw, H., & Wakelin, M. (2010). Validity and reliability of the DMSES UK: a measure of self-efficacy for type 2 diabetes self-management. Primary Health Care Research & Development, 11(4), 374.
