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Description
According to Ministry of Health and National Health Fund data (2019), in Poland approximately 20 000 children and young people have type 1 diabetes. The number of cases is billowing, with another 1500 children being diagnosed with diabetes each year. An increasing number of children with the disease are being placed in educational facilities, where they should be assured care. The Act on Healthcare Services for Pupils of 2019 assigned this care to nurses, who are not present in schools. There is no compulsory, institutional (state) training for personnel in education. Teachers are not given training on care for children with diabetes, and fear responsibility; lack of knowledge causes fear and an unwillingness to deal with a pupil who is ill.Our activities will alleviate the problem of children with type 1 diabetes not having access to schools and preschools due to lack of competences of personnel with regard to helping ill children.Working with the Polskie Towarzystwo Diabetologiczne, we will produce a training course for diabetes educators. When this is held for the second time, we will train educators from among sufferers and draw up presentations (two versions: for preschools and years 1-3 and for higher years) to be used in training and at care facilities. We will produce a handbook on health aspects and providing emotional support when caring for children with diabetes. Ten instructional videos will be made on providing care, and ten motivational videos will be made showing people who are successful despite having diabetes. The trained educators will conduct 60 training sessions for teachers.The project will provide training for 60 people, who will train 900 school and preschool personnel. Information packs will be produced about diabetes and people who lead active lives despite having diabetes.People with diabetes and teachers from all over Poland will participate.
Summary of project results
The project addresses the exclusion of children with type 1 diabetes from preschool and school education. Approximately 20,000 children and adolescents in Poland suffer from type 1 diabetes (NFZ, 2019). The incidence is increasing exponentially, with an additional 1,500 children diagnosed with diabetes every year. Children with diabetes should be cared for in the educational institutions they attend. The Student Health Care Act 2019 delegates this care to school nurses, who are simply not available in many schools. There is also no compulsory, systematic training (provided by state institutions) for education staff in the care of children with diabetes. The training provided by the Centre for Educational Development and the Ministry of National Education is inadequate and usually consists of an information session on diabetes for a school representative. Teachers are not prepared to care for children with diabetes, they are afraid of the responsibility, and ignorance breeds fear and reluctance to deal with a sick student.
As part of the project, a programme was developed and two editions of the course for diabetes educators were delivered. The course was partly online and partly face-to-face in Krakow. It trained diabetes educators - people who have experience of diabetes. Three webinars/presentations were also prepared in areas such as communication, mediation and communication. Two handbooks were produced on diabetes care, both in terms of health and emotional support. 10 educational films on caring for children with diabetes were produced for teachers, as well as 10 motivational films with stories from people with diabetes. The course graduates then conducted 60 training sessions for teachers.
As a result, 900 nursery and primary school teachers were trained in the care and support of children with diabetes. They gained knowledge about diabetes and improved their skills. The project also helped to destigmatise diabetes by providing educational material about diabetes and people actively living with the disease. Finally, children with diabetes from the trained institutions benefited from the activities.
To disseminate the products developed under the project, additional workshops were conducted for 30 individuals from 17 diabetes organisations and informal self-help groups from across Poland. These workshops focused on effectively supporting children and young people with diabetes in the school environment.