Abstract
The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument to assess and support the learning processes for self-care ability for diabetes prevention. First, the model which shows the learning processes for self-care ability and the questionnaire to assess the achievement level in these learning processes were developed based upon the works of Matsushita (1990) and Orem (1991). Then, a survey using this questionnaire was performed on 8 participants in a diabetes education course, and 52 participants in the continuous education course. These courses were part of community based health education that public health nurses of T city planned and implemented for the purpose of preventing diabetes. Moreover, I visited 8 participants who had completed the questionnaire, and interviewed them about their present condition and life style. The following results were obtained: 1) Cronbach's alpha was 0.86 to 0.91 for a sample of 52 diabetes education participants, indicating the internal consistency of this questionnaire. 2) Stages of learning process were interrelated and the results of path analysis revealed the following stages of the learning process progress:【recognition】→【judgment】→【decision-making】→【practice】→【continuation】. 3) It was suggested that learning enhanced self-care ability. In other words, to know the ideal state and the actual state of one's own condition, and to recognize the gap between them, facilitated the advancement in the learning process. More subjects are required for examination of the validity of this questionnaire.
