Abstract
Objective Jordan has a high prevalence of painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy (PDPN), leg
complications, and amputations due to diabetes. This study evaluated the effect of
educational programs on pain management, self-efficacy behaviors, and quality of life
(QoL) among adult patients with PDPN.
Methods The randomized controlled trial study was conducted at the Jordanian Ministry of
Health hospitals between October 2019 – March 2020. Seventy-two adult patients with
PDPN were randomized to an experimental group of 36 patients who attended an educational
program and a control group who followed routine diabetic care in the study setting.
The data were collected using a socio-demographic and diabetes clinical/laboratory
data form, the numeric rating scale (NRS), diabetes self-efficacy scale (DSES), and
the quality-of-life questionnaire (EQ-5D). The intervention program consisted of four
educational sessions at weekly intervals. Pre-test and post-test evaluations were
conducted.
Results After the educational intervention, the mean scores of the NRS (p= 0.020), DSES (p< 0.001), and EQ-5D (p< 0.001) in the experimental group improved significantly improved compared to those in the
control group. Additionally, while there were no significant correlations between
the three study outcomes in the pre-test stage, correlations were observed to be significant
after the educational intervention.
Conclusion This study shows that the design and implementation of educational intervention combined
with routine diabetic care facilitate effective pain management, self-efficacy behaviors,
and QoL of patients with PDPN. The health care providers are recommended to use the
educational programs for such patients at various levels of services in both health
centers and diabetes clinics.
Key words painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy - type 2 diabetes mellitus - peripheral neuropathy
- self-efficacy behaviors - quality of life
