Abstract: Objective To explore the effect of four education forms for hospitalized diabetic children at different age. Methods Totally 185 cases diagnosed as type 1 diabetes mellitus were recruited and were divided into two groups according to age, children and adolescents groups. All of them were taught the skills of subcutaneous insulin injection and were asked to fill in the questionnaire about insulin knowledge, and they accepted four education forms in a same order. Results The form of demonstration had the highest total acceptance rate(69.7%), while the rates of collective teaching, publicity album and games education were 40.0%, 30.0% and 51.9%, respectively. The acceptance rate of collective teaching in adolescents group was significantly higher than that of children group(P=0.016), and that of publicity album in adolescents group was also significantly higher than that of children group(P=0.005). There was no significant difference in the acceptance rate of demonstration education between the two groups(P=0.129). The acceptance rate of game education in children group was higher than that of adolescents group(P=0.017). Adolescents had higher acceptance rate of insulin injection than that of children group. Conclusion Different education forms suit different children, collective teaching and demonstration education is more suitable for adolescents, game education is more suitable for children. In order to reduce the complication of diabetes mellitus and improve the quality of their life, the care givers should choose proper health education forms for different children.

Key words: diabetes mellitus, children, health education, inpatient education