"The effects of self-care training on the self-concept, self-care behav" by Caryle Hopkins Zorumski

Date Awarded

1997

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

Department

Education

Advisor

Chas Matthews

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of self-care training on the self-concept, self-care behavior, and metabolic control of diabetic children. The author hoped to obtain information to help improve training programs for children with diabetes.;Forty-nine diabetic children, ages eight to 13, participated in the study as they received basic self-care training from their physicians. Twenty-seven of the children also attended a week long summer day camp where they received additional instruction in diabetes self-care.;The subjects completed the Self-Perception Profile for Children and the Self-Care Questionnaire two times at a four month interval to measure their self-concept and the self-care behaviors. Two routine blood sample tests were used to measure their glycated hemoglobin for metabolic control levels.;It was hypothesized that after training, and compared with the control group, the children who attended the camp would (1) have better self-concepts, (2) perform more self-care behaviors, and (3) show improved metabolic control. The author also hypothesized that children who began the study with better self-concepts would improve more. The data analyses failed, however, to support those hypotheses.;All the children initially registered positive self-concepts, performed many self-care behaviors, and showed fair to good metabolic control. The experimental group demonstrated no significant improvements when evaluated after training. It was concluded, therefore, that the additional self-care training did not affect the self-concept, self-care behavior, or metabolic control of the children, regardless of their initial self-concept level. Total number of children and family size, however, were predictors of metabolic control for all subjects.;Further research is needed with children from more diverse backgrounds who have varying levels of self-concept, self-care performance, and metabolic control. Research to identify the factors that do affect diabetic children's self-concept, self-care performance, and metabolic control also is necessary, as is investigation of different types of training programs.

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.25774/w4-vsj6-za05

Rights

© The Author

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