Self-Care Management Interventions for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Saudi Arabia: A Systematic Review

Aim of the study: To assess the self-care management interventions for type 2 diabetes mellitus in Saudi Arabia through a systematic review. Methods: A systematic review was conducted by searching for articles from three online journal collection sites – PubMed Central (PMC), CINAHL Open Access and Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). Other articles were obtained from the Google scholar and the Google advanced search engine. The resultant articles were subjected to a thorough scrutiny within the inclusion criteria and quality assessment. An abstraction table was then used to summarize the outcomes. Results: Initial search gave a yield of 2410 articles, which were finally reduced to nine articles. One type of intervention program was identified across the articles – the educational intervention. Across the studies, education program had a significant positive impact on patients’ self-management of type 2 diabetes mellitus and patients’ clinical outcomes, with notable impacts on self-care knowledge, behaviors and attitude towards desired practices. There was also a significant impact of the intervention programs on glycemic level and risks of cardiovascular diseases, such as lipid profile. However, the impact of the educational programs depended on smoking and marital status. Conclusion and Recommendations: educational programs are effective in improving the self-management of type 2 diabetes mellitus in Saudi Arabia. However, there is a need to focus on the large-scale application of the education, especially in the clinical setup to come up a sustainable culture of patients’ education.