Assessment of the knowledge of diabetes mellitus among school teachers within the scope of the managing diabetes at school program

Objective: training teachers and education professionals on diabetes is crucial for full-time monitoring of diabetic children in schools. the objective of this study was to assess the knowledge on diabetes in a group of school teachers in turkey. methods: between november 2010 and november 2011,1054 teachers from three regions of ankara were given a questionnaire to assess their knowledge on diabetes. the mean age of the group (27% males,73% females) was 38.8±8 years. 61.7% of the participants were class teachers,23.3% were school counselors,and the rest were physical education teachers and administrators. results: a fair percentage (47.6%) of the participants had a moderate knowledge level on diabetes and 32.4% expressed a lower level of knowledge. a large proportion (94%) gave an accurate definition of diabetes. of the total group of 1054 teachers,625 were aware that blood glucose level might decrease in diabetic children during follow-up. also,75% believed that diabetic children were eligible for physical education classes. 52.8% of these teachers had no diabetic child in their classes and teachers with a diabetic patient in their family had better knowledge of diabetes compared to their counterparts. conclusions: our study results indicate that school teachers have limited knowledge on diabetes. we believe that their knowledge levels can be improved by widespread training programs. © journal of clinical research in pediatric endocrinology.