Ali Ahmadi - Department of Public Health, Khoy University of Medical Sciences, Khoy, Iran
Shamsaddin Niknami - Department of Health Education, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
Mohtasham Ghaffari - Enviormental & Occupational Hazards Control Research Center, School of Public Health & Safety, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Background: The prevalence of type ۲ diabetes mellitus is increasing substantially worldwide, leading to serious economic effects, complications and deaths. This study compared the effectiveness of an educational program promoting self-care behaviors among type ۲ diabetic patients with different levels of health literacy.Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, participants over aged ۲۵ diagnosed with type ۲ diabetes were recruited from outpatient clinic in ۲۰۲۱. Convenient sampling was applied to recruit ۸۴ patients in two groups with adequate and inadequate health literacy. Training intervention was conducted on both groups and the effect of the experiment evaluated before and a week and three months after the intervention. To evaluate this effect and to compare it in the two groups, tests were used by SPSS software version ۲۵.Results: There were ۸۴ participants: ۴۲ in the adequate and inadequate health literacy groups, respectively. For self-care scores, the mean effect in the adequate and inadequate health literacy groups were ۷۰.۰۲ ± ۶.۸۷ and ۵۵.۳۸ ± ۹.۵۵ respectively (p < ۰.۰۰۱). Levels of self-care and other variables showed a significant difference in the adequate health literacy group compared to the inadequate health literacy group.Conclusions: The empowerment program improved self-care behaviors of type ۲ diabetes in Iranian users and health literacy were a major factor influencing self-care behaviors.

type ۲ diabetes mellitus, self-care, health literacy, Iran, comparative study