effect of family-centered empowerment model on eating habits, weight, hemoglobin a1c, and blood glucose in iranian patients with type 2 diabetes

Background: families play a peculiar role in adherence to treatment in diabetic patients; therefore, it seems that interference in motivational, psychological, and self-issued characteristics based on the family-centered empowerment model (fcem) affects this adherence. aim: the present study aimed to determine the effect of fcem on eating habits, weight, hemoglobin a1c, and blood glucose control in iranian patients with type 2 diabetes. method: this semi-experimental study was conducted on 70 participants with type 2 diabetes in a diabetes clinic in birjand, iran, in 2018. the participants were selected via purposive sampling and randomly assigned to two groups of control (n=35) and intervention (n=35) using block randomization. the intervention group received family-centered empowerment training for four weekly-held 90-min sessions. data were collected using demographic and disease characteristics form and azartel et al.’s dietary behaviors questionnaire and analyzed in spss software (version 19). results: the mean age scores of participants in the intervention and control groups were 49.66±6.37and 49.46±5.98 years, respectively. the intervention group showed an increasing trend through time, where the mean scores for eating habits and blood glucose had insignificant improvement one month (p>0.05) and three months (p<0.05) after the intervention. hemoglobin a1c level reduced significantly in the intervention group three months after the intervention (p<0.05), as compared to that in the control group (p>0.05). implications for practice: the fcem can improve nutritional behaviors, hemoglobin a1c, and blood glucose in type 2 diabetic patients. this intervention can guide health care providers on how to improve the eating habits of diabetic patients through family empowerment training.