The effect of diabetes education on knowledge and awareness levels of classroom teachers about type 1 diabetes

This research was conducted to determine the effect of "Diabetes Education for Teachers" applied to classroom teachers on teachers' knowledge and awareness levels of Type 1 diabetes. The research, which was conducted in a pre-test and post-test quasi-experimental design in intervention-control groups, was conducted between September and December 2023 with 87 classroom teachers (intervention=42, control=45) in 6 public primary schools (n=87). Data were collected with the "Teacher Information Form" and the "Type 1 Diabetes Knowledge Test for Teachers" and "Type 1 Diabetes Awareness Scale for Teachers" developed within the scope of this study. Diabetes education materials developed by the International Diabetes Federation within the scope of the Kids and Diabetes in Schools (KiDS) project were translated into Turkish and used as educational materials within the scope of this study. Data analysis in the study was conducted using IBM SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) Statistics Version 25 for Windows and JASP (Version 0.17.2.1) package programs. Data were analyzed with descriptive analyses, Shapiro-Wilk test, Chi-squared test, Mann Whitney U test, Wilcoxon Signed Rank test, Students' t test, Spearman's Rank Correlation test. p<0.05 was accepted as the limit of statistical significance. It was found that the "Type 1 Diabetes Knowledge Test for Teachers" post-test mean rank of the classroom teachers in the intervention group were significantly higher than the control group (p<0.001). It was determined that the post-test mean rank of the teachers in the intervention group in the total and all sub-dimensions of the "Type 1 Diabetes Awareness Scale for Teachers" were significantly higher than those in the control group (p<0.001). It was concluded that "Diabetes Education for Teachers" was effective in increasing the knowledge and awareness levels of classroom teachers about Type 1 diabetes. In studies to be carried out with teachers; It is recommended to use "Type 1 Diabetes Knowledge Test for Teachers" and "Type 1 Diabetes Awareness Scale for Teachers" and diabetes education materials translated into Turkish.