The Effect of the Health Behavior Modification Program on HbA1c Level Control among Diabetic Patients in Chronic Noncommunicable Disease Clinic

Abstract

The objective of this study was to assess the effect of the Muslim health behavior modification program on food consumption behavior and medication use on the level (HbA1c) in diabetes patients. It was conducted as a quasi-experimental research using a one-group pretest-posttest design. The samples were 65 diabetic patients attending the chronic non-communicable disease clinic. They were followed-up for a period of 20 weeks. The study tools included health behavior change programs; diabetes care manual; the tool for 3S, 3A, 1N (the Thai set of healthy behavioral practice covering praying, meditation, dhamma discussion, food, exercise, emotion, and biological clock); and a questionnaire on food consumption behavior and drug use with the consistency index of 1.00 and the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.82. The data were analyzed with descriptive statistics including mean, standard deviation, percentage, and paired samples t-test. The results revealed that the food compulsion behaviors posttest was significantly higher than that of the pretest (p<0.05), the drug use behaviors posttest was also significantly higher (p<0.05), and the mean score of HbA1C level posttest was significantly lower (p<0.05). The findings of this study indicated that the Health Behavior Modification Program was effective in changing patients behaviors resulting in the reduction of their blood sugar levels.Therefore, applying the program to daily life together with modifications of appropriate health behavior according to Muslim guidelines could motivate sustainable change toward healthy behaviors.