Adherence to and factors associated with self-care behaviours in type 2 diabetes patients in Ghana

Abstract

BackgroundPrevious research has failed to examine more than one self-care behaviour in type 2 diabetes patients in Ghana. The purpose of this study is to investigate adult Ghanaian type 2 diabetes patients’ adherence to four self-care activities: diet (general and specific), exercise, self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) and foot care.MethodsConsenting type 2 diabetes patients attending diabetes outpatient clinic appointments at three hospitals in the Tamale Metropolis of Ghana completed a cross-sectional survey comprising the Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities Measure, and questions about demographic characteristics and diabetes history. Height and weight were also measured. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to identify the factors associated with adherence to each of the four self-care behaviours.ResultsIn the last 7 days, participants exercised for a mean (SD) of 4.78 (2.09) days and followed diet, foot care and SMBG for a mean (SD) of 4.40 (1.52), 2.86 (2.16) and 2.15 (0.65) days, respectively. More education was associated with a higher frequency of reported participation in exercise (r = 0.168, p = 0.022), following a healthy diet (r = 0.223, p = 0.002) and foot care (r = 0.153, p = 0.037) in the last 7 days. Males reported performing SMBG (r = 0.198, p = 0.007) more frequently than their female counterparts.ConclusionAdherence to diet, SMBG and checking of feet were relatively low. People with low education and women may need additional support to improve adherence to self-care behaviours in this type 2 diabetes population.

A survey on patients' characteristics, perception of family support and diabetes self‐management among type 2 diabetes patients in South‐West Nigeria

“…Contrary to Okolie et al () and Mogre et al (), in this study, there was no association between gender, educational attainment and DSM/adherence. This may be due to the fact that the authors made use of a different scale where different aspects of self‐management—blood glucose monitoring, foot care, diet adherence and adherence to exercise —were individually compared with the sociodemographic parameters, whereas in this study a sum scale encompassing the various aspects of self‐management was used.…”

“…Okolie et al () reported that individuals with primary school or no education adhered better than those with secondary and tertiary education. This is contrary to the report of Mogre et al (). Abubakari, Cousins, Thomas, Sharma, and Naderali () further documented the association between diabetes duration and self‐management although Huang, Zhao, Li, and Jiang () found the opposite among Chinese participants.…”

“…Various personal (sociodemographic and clinical) and psychosocial factors affect self‐management among diabetes patients. For instance, high educational attainment was associated with increased physical activities, healthy diet and better foot care (Mogre, Abanga, Tzelepis, Johnson, & Paul, ). Okolie, Ehiemere, Ezenduka, and Ogbu () also found a higher dietary adherence among males compared with females, married individuals compared with those unmarried, those unemployed versus employed patients, diabetes patients aged 18–50 years in contrast with those over 50 years.…”

Efficacy of intermittent empagliflozin supplementation on dietary self‐management and glycaemic control in patients with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes: A 24‐week randomized controlled trial

“…We expected that this intermittent empagliflozin supplementation would encourage the participants to self‐manage their diet continuously, then appreciate their achievements with regard to HbA1c and body weight reduction and recognize this self‐efficacy (confidence in one's ability to execute a behaviour and manage one's life), and that this would further motivate their dietary self‐management. Therefore, although diet therapy can be frustrating and a burden, resulting in decreasing motivation with regard to self‐management, the participants' QoL was not decreased but increased compared with baseline in the setting of decreased dietary intake in the intermittent treatment group. Importantly, none of the participants in the intermittent group discontinued the study because of dissatisfaction or AEs.…”

A systematic review of adherence to diabetes self‐care behaviours: Evidence from low‐ and middle‐income countries

“…Ten included studies evaluated foot care among diabetes patients from which two studies investigated foot care only (Shown in Table ). Six studies (Al‐Amer et al, ; Ashur et al, ; Assah et al, ; Bhandari & Kim, ; Mogre, Abanga, et al, ; Mosha & Rashidi, ) reported foot care adherence according to the mean number of days diabetes patients adhered to foot care recommendations; mean days ranged from 2.2–4.3 days in a week. Huang et al () reported a mean foot care practice score of 77.47% among Chinese persons with diabetes (higher scores indicate better self‐perceived overall foot care).…”