Assessing the effect of educational program via SMS service of mobile phone on knowledge and attitude towards self-care in type 2 diabetic patients in Chabahar

Background and Aims: The aim of this study was to determine the effect of educational program implementation using mobile phone SMS service on knowledge and attitude towards self-care in type 2 diabetic patients.Materials and Methods: This quasi-experimental clinical trial was performed with 74 diabetes patients in Chabahar. Patients were selected through purposeful sampling and randomly divided into two groups of 37 person, intervention and control groups. The data collection tools were demographic, knowledge and attitude questionnaires. Educational text messages were sent to the intervention group on a daily basis for four weeks. Two months after the intervention, the questionnaires was completed by participants in both groups. Data were analyzed by SPSS software version 16 and Chi-square, independent t-test, paired t-test and Mann-Whitney test. All stages of the study were conducted according to moral standards.Results: Although the demographic variables were consistent in both groups (P˃0.05), the mean scores of knowledge and attitude of the two intervention and control groups were not significantly different before the training (P>0.05). However, following desired education, the difference in mean of knowledge and attitude scores between two intervention and control groups was statistically significant (P<0.001(.Conclusion: The results indicated the effectiveness of educational intervention in improving the knowledge and attitude of patients through Sending SMS Educational Method (SSEM). Considering the advantages of this method, such as affordability and easy access, it is necessary to pay more attention.Keywords: Knowledge, Attitude, Type 2 Diabetes, Self-care, SMS, Mobile Phone