title: The impact of Multimedia Software Support on the Knowledge and Self-Care Behaviors of Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: a Randomized Clinical Trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Education is the most effective and economical part of diabetes treatment. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a training program with multimedia software on the knowledge and self-care behaviors of patients with type 2 diabetes.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was a randomized controlled clinical trial in which 60 patients referred to diabetes clinic at Arak city were divided randomly into experimental (n=30) and control (n=30) groups. The instruments for collecting data were "Summary of Diabetes self-care activities questionnaire" and "knowledge of self-care in patients with diabetes". Data were collected before and 2 months after the intervention in the both groups. Educational program with equal content was applied for both experimental group (self-care program with multimedia software support) & control group (lecture and presentation with PowerPoint). Data analysis was done using SPSS Ver.13.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Implementation of the self-care program with multimedia software support resulted in improvements in patients' self-care behaviors in the experimental group, whereas these behaviors had not significant changes in the control group after eight weeks. There was a significant difference in the mean score of knowledge in both the experiment and control groups before and after the intervention.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Considering beneficial effects of training program with multimedia software support on the knowledge and self-care behaviors and the importance of this issue, suggested that the patients preferably provide terms of use of educational software for themselves.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Nursing and Midwifery Faculty, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran.
authors.forename: Moloud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Farmahini Farahani
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Nursing and Midwifery Faculty, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Zahra
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Purfarzad
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mojtaba
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ghorbani
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Islamic Azad University, Qom Branch, Qom, Iran.
authors.forename: Zohre
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ghamari Zare
authors.affiliation: Department of Exercise Physiology, Faculty of Physical Education & Sport Sciences, Isfahan University, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Fateme
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ghorbani
keywords: Diabetes mellitus type 2; Multimedia; Self-care; Software