Diabetes is a fast growing illness. Locally in the past years, the Philippine Health Insurance Program reimbursed 49 M pesos for diabetes claims alone, averaging to about 4,400 pesos per claim. New and innovative strategies should be considered for the improvement of quality of care and concrete actions be made to provide a solution to this long-standing disease Objective: The aim of the study was to compare the effectiveness of group patient education versus standard care of individual patient education in terms of diabetes knowledge, perceived quality of life and adherence to physicians advice, glycemic control and willingness to follow-up among adult patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. Methods: The study was a randomized controlled trial involving adult patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus consulting at the PGH Family Medicine Clinic (FMC). The intervention arm was group patient education while the control was the standard usual clinic care and individual education. The subjects who have fulfilled the inclusion criteria were randomized in blocks by computer-generated randomization. Baseline data were gathered at the start of study after which the participants were made to undergo either group or individual education classes. Follow-up was done after one month at which data were again gathered. Outcomes measured include: diabetes knowledge, quality of life, patient adherence, patients willingness for less consultation follow-up or longer follow-up interval, and blood sugar levels. Data were analyzed by means of Mann-Whitney and the Wilcoxon test. Results: Post intervention fasting blood sugar levels at one month showed a decrease in levels both in group and individual education. A comparison of FBS levels from baseline to that of one month post intervention showed a significant decrease in those enrolled in the group education bloc. Individual knowledge scores before and after the intervention also showed an increasing trend in scores both for group and individual education. When compared to baseline knowledge scores, there was an increase in the proportion of diabetics with improved scores in the group education (75 percent) after the intervention than the control (73 percent). A greater number of diabetics in the group education arm (43.8 percent) were found to have improved QOL one month after intervention as compared to those in those with improved QOL in the control group (31.8 percent). There was an observed pattern of increased proportion of patients who shifted from the moderate adherence category to the good adherence category after one month in both groups. There was a greater number of patients with follow up visits in the individual education group (45.7 percent) compared to that of the group education (45.7 percent). Conclusion: Group patient education is more effective in decreasing fasting blood sugar levels as compared to individual patient education for diabetic patients at one month post intervention. However, in terms of knowledge, quality of life and patient adherence, group patient education leads to improved knowledge and improved quality of life but not patient adherence.

The Filipino Family Physician, 2005 43 ( 4 ) pages 119-128