The Effect of Patient Education Through Social Media on COVID-19-Related Fear, Anxiety, and Self-care in Diabetes Patients

Determining the effect of patient education through social media on COVID-19-related fear, anxiety, and self-care in diabetes patients

. This is a double-blinded randomized controlled trial, in which a total of 120 patients with diabetes will be recruited using convenience sampling and then randomly allocated to two groups of intervention and control.

This study will be conducted in Vali-E-Asr and Ayatollah Mousavi Hospitals, Zanjan, Iran, both of which are known as the centers for metabolic diseases. Eligible patients will be selected from internal wards and specialized clinics. In this study, participants will be randomly assigned to two groups of intervention and control. Moreover, participants, data analysts, and clinical caregivers will not be informed of patient allocation.

Inclusion criteria: 1- Exact diagnosis of diabetes by a physician according to laboratory and clinical tests 2- Being literate 3- Having the ability to use a smartphone, tablet,or laptop 4- Not being infected by COVID-19 5- Granting written informed consent to participate in the study 6- Being in the age range of 18-60 years Exclusion criteria: 1- Having a mental health disorder

Patients in the intervention group will receive educational intervention through social messaging apps. Educational content consists of data on the COVID-19 nature, causes, and symptoms of the disease, pharmacological treatment and correct use of drugs, diet, isolation, personal hygiene, and mental health.It should be noted that the control group will not receive any educational intervention by the research team.

In this study, the effect of patient education through social media on the COVID-19-related fear, anxiety, and self-care in diabetes patients will be evaluated.

Block randomization will be used to assign patients to the control and intervention groups, so that 6 blocks with size of 4 will be used in this regard. The letter A and B will be considered for sampling patients in the intervention and the control group, respectively. The following blocks will be written on pieces of paper with numbers from 1 to 6. We will then randomly pick up the pieces of paper through rolling a dice. Sampling will then begin according to the order achieved in the above procedures. 1. AABB 2. BBAA 3. ABBA 4. BAAB 5. ABAB 6. BABA According to the order of the letters in the blocks, patients will be assigned to the intervention or control group. Then the next blocks will be selected through rolling the dice again. For example, we roll the dice 6 times for the first time and the following numbers are given by chance: 514362 → ABAB AABB BAAB ABBA BABA BBAA

In this study, participants will not be informed of their allocation to the intervention or control group. Clinical caregivers and statistical analyzers will also not be aware of patient allocation.

After the completion of the study, researchers will publish the required information based on the ethical considerations in the text of the thesis. Therefore, the required demographic information as well as the mean scores of the dependent variables will be published in the thesis and the article or articles derived fromthis research project.

The thesis resulting from this research project will probably be available in late August 2021. The researchers can access the text of the thesis in the dissertation database of the central library of Zanjan University of Medical Sciences. The article resulting from this thesis will be submitted in one of the prestigious international journals within 6 months after the approval of the thesis.

Data and documentation will be available to medical researchers.

The data can be used to study, give citation, create new ideas, and practically apply in medical centers.

To receive the data, the researchers can refer to the thesis database of the central library of Zanjan University of Medical Sciences or send an email to the first author of the project (Ali Sadeghian). Email: alisadeghian75@yahoo.com

Researchers can get access to the data by providing reasons and guaranteeing citation to the article(s) resulting from the thesis project. They should send an email to the first author of the research project (Ali Sadeghian). Email: alisadeghian75@yahoo.com