The Check, Think and Act paper-based resource was designed to teach people with diabetes to understand their capillary blood glucose levels (BGLs) and support them to take action on their high or low levels for improved health outcomes. The resource has not previously been formally validated but anecdotal responses by individuals using the resource have been positive. Formal validation would establish the robustness of the resource and its potential as an effective teaching tool for use within undergraduate health curriculums.  

Aim: Assess the effectiveness of the Check, Think and Act paper based resource to teach first year podiatry students how to interpret BGLs.

Method: Third year students in the Graduate Bachelor of Podiatry at the University of South Australia attended a 1.5hr tutorial on diabetes and blood glucose monitoring in February 2016. The Check, Think and Act resource was used to teach interpretation of BGLs. It was distributed after students completed Part 1 (3 items) of a two part, non-validated questionnaire that included open-ended and Likert scale (1=poor – 10=excellent) questions. Part 2 (15 items) was completed at the conclusion of the session. Responses were compiled onto an Excel spreadsheet for statistical analysis using a Student's paired t-test. 

Results:  Thirty-six students completed the questionnaire with one incomplete and subsequently withdrawn from the sample (n=35). Student's paired t-testing showed a p value < 0.001 for the two questions repeated pre and post teaching (Q.2 and 6). Refer table for further results. Refer Table 1.

Table 1: Results

 Conclusion: The Check, Think and Act resource was proven to be statistically significant in its ability to effectively teach third year podiatry students how to interpret BGLs. This confirms it is an effective education resource for student podiatrists. Further validation of the Check, Think and Act resource is required to test its effectiveness when used by people with diabetes, health professionals and other undergraduate health students.