Patient Education on Diabetes Mellitus in Rural India

In India, the number of people with diabetes continues to grow rapidly, and those living in rural areas are directly affected by limited resources and provider accessibility resulting in insufficient self-care knowledge. This creative project focuses on how leaflet handouts were used to implement patient education on self-care management for patients with diabetes living in the rural outskirts of New Delhi, India. Implementation was done in pop up clinics in rural villages of the outskirts of New Delhi as well as through a volunteer-run free clinic in the town of Faridabad. Leaflet components included diet, exercise, medication information, signs of hypoglycemia, and a celebrity segment. The content and layout of the leaflets were based on concepts from Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory as well as critically appraised literature. Results were comparable to the literature review in that they demonstrated knowledge deficit of foot care, medication adherence, and health status. Overall, the implementation of the leaflets greatly assisted in patient education with complete language barrier, as well as proved to be sustainable after six months.