title: The Diabetes Literacy and Numeracy Education Toolkit (DLNET): materials to facilitate diabetes education and management in patients with low literacy and numeracy skills.
abstract: Diabetes self-management education is an important component of comprehensive diabetes care. Patients with low health literacy and numeracy may have difficulty translating information from traditional diabetes educational programs and materials into effective self-care.
  
  
  
  To address this potential barrier to successful diabetes teaching and counseling, the authors developed the Diabetes Literacy and Numeracy Education Toolkit (DLNET).
  
  
  
  The DLNET is composed of 24 interactive modules covering standard diabetes care topics that can be customized to individual patient needs and used by all members of the multidisciplinary diabetes care team. The material's content and formatting aims to improve the ease of use for diabetes patients with low literacy and numeracy by adhering to a lower text reading level, using illustrations for key concepts, and color-coding and other accommodations to guide patients through instructions for self-care. Individual sections of the DLNET may be provided to patients for initial teaching, as well as for reinforcement. Although designed for lower literacy and numeracy skills, the DLNET provides unique materials to facilitate diabetes education for all patients.
authors.affiliation: The Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, Nashville, Tennessee (Ms Wolff, Dr Wallston)
authors.forename: Kathleen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wolff
authors.affiliation: Vanderbilt University Department of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee (Dr Cavanaugh)
authors.forename: Kerri
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cavanaugh
authors.affiliation: Nashville, Tennessee, the University of North Carolina, Department of Medicine (Dr Malone, Ms Hawk)|Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Eshelman School of Pharmacy (Dr Malone)
authors.forename: Robb
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Malone
authors.affiliation: Nashville, Tennessee, the University of North Carolina, Department of Medicine (Dr Malone, Ms Hawk)
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Hawk
authors.affiliation: Vanderbilt Diabetes Center, Nashville, Tennessee (Ms Gregory, Ms Davis)
authors.forename: Becky Pratt
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Gregory
authors.affiliation: Vanderbilt Diabetes Center, Nashville, Tennessee (Ms Gregory, Ms Davis)
authors.forename: Dianne
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.affiliation: The Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, Nashville, Tennessee (Ms Wolff, Dr Wallston)
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wallston
authors.affiliation: Vanderbilt University, Departments of Medicine & Pediatrics, Nashville, Tennessee (Dr Rothman)
authors.forename: Russell L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Rothman
mesh_terms: D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis; D003376:Counseling; D003479:Curriculum; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D003927:Diet, Diabetic; D004522:Educational Status; D006801:Humans; D007328:Insulin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D009752:Nutritional Status; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D012016:Reference Values
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D007328:Insulin