Effects of a Behavioral Modification Program in Complication Control of Diabetes Patients with Chronic Kidney Complications

Abstract

Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is an important problem in public health. The purpose of this quasi-experimental research was to study the effects of a Behavioral Modification Program (BMP) on controlling chronic kidney disease (CKD) complications among persons with DM. Thirty persons with type 2 DM and stage 3 CKD were purposively recruited from Mae Wong Hospital. The intervention was a BMP which included health education, medicine taking self-reporting, subgroup learning & sharing, and mobile phone alerts. Data were collected using a two-section behavioral questionnaire related to consumption behavior and medication taking behavior and a clinical data collection form. All research tools were validated by three experts. The both aspects of the questionnaire were tested for Cronbach’s α coefficient, which were found to be .76 and .73, respectively. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and paired t-tests. The results indicated that the mean scores for protein consumption behavior, medication taking behavior, and renal infiltration rate were statistically significantly higher than before the experiment, t(29) = -4.83, p < .001;  t(29) = -5.69, p < .001; t(29) = 4.72,  p < .001, respectively.  On the other hand, the mean scores for fasting blood sugar, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and low-density lipoprotein were statistic significantly lower than before the experiment, t(29) = -3.89, p < .001; t(29) = 4.31, p < .001; t(29) = 3.72, p < .001; t(29) = 3.22, p < .01, respectively. These results imply that the BMP can improve CKD complications among persons with DM. Therefore, the program should be adopted for persons with DM and CKD complications in stage 4 and 5 to slow down progression of this complication.