The Effectiveness of Multimedia Education to Improve Diabetic Foot Care Knowledge, Practice, and Wound Healing

Diabetic patients should receive education on diabetic foot care as part of self-care to reduce the risk of diabetic foot complications. At the project site, a gap existed among diabetic adults performing foot self-care at routine visits.

The purpose of this quantitative quasi-experimental project was to determine if, or to what degree the implementation of patient education using “Diabetes and Foot Problems” by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and “Diabetes – Taking Care of Your Feet” by MedlinePlus and the video My Feet and Diabetes by Diabetes Victoria on diabetic foot care impacted foot care knowledge/practice scores using the Nottingham Assessment of Functional Footcare (NAFF) and diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) measurements via medical record among diabetic patients who presented with a foot ulcer in a wound care office in the southwestern United States over four weeks.

Meyer’s cognitive theory of multimedia learning (CTML) and Pender’s health promotion model (HPM) provided the theoretical foundations for the project. Among a sample of adult diabetic patients (N =14), a paired t-test revealed a non-significant trend in NAFF scores changes (t (13) = -0.28, p = .786). A repeating ANOVA test resulted in a statistically significant difference (F (2,26) = 3.91, p = .033) when assessing DFU measurement changes.

All testing was based on an alpha of 0.05. Alternative education methods are recommended in a wound care practice setting to improve DFU measurements. Further evaluation of the effectiveness of this style of education in a non-wound care setting, such as primary care, should be considered to assess for changes in NAFF scores among diabetic patients.