Diabetic health literacy and associated factors among diabetes mellitus patients on follow up at public hospitals, Bale Zone, South East Ethiopia, 2021

Abstract

Objective This study was aimed to assess diabetic health literacy and associated factors among adult diabetic patients in public hospitals, Bale Zone, Southeast Ethiopia. Methods A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 402 diabetic patients in three public hospitals and the samples were selected using simple random sampling technique. The comprehensive functional, communicative, and critical health literacy questionnaire was used to measure diabetic health literacy. Descriptive statistics and Ordinary logistic regression analyses were conducted, and a P-value of < 0.05 was considered to declare a result as statistically significant. Result A total of 402 diabetic patients were involved in the study. Of all respondents, 41.8%, 27.9%, and 30.3% had low, moderate, and high diabetic health literacy respectively. Educational status; can’t read and write (AOR = 0.085;95% CI: 0.03,0.26), can read and write (AOR = 0.10; 95% CI: 0.04,0.30), primary school (AOR = 0.25; 95% CI: 0.09,0.67), secondary school (AOR = 0.37; 95% CI: 0.14,0.99), duration of onset ≤5 years (AOR = 2.05; 95% CI:1.09,4.19), being not member of DM association (AOR = 0.43; 95% CI: 0.26,0.73), having ≤ 3 diabetes mellitus information sources (AOR = 0.15; 95% CI: 0.03,0.77), social support; poor (AOR = 0.40;95% CI: 0.21,0.79), and moderate (AOR = 0.50; 95% CI: 0.28,0.92) were significantly associated with diabetic health literacy. Conclusion A substantial number of diabetic patients had low diabetic health literacy. Educational status, Sources of diabetic information, Member of DM association, and social support were significantly and positively associated with diabetic health literacy. But, duration of diabetes onset was negatively associated with diabetic health literacy of respondents. So, we recommend providing readable and picturized printed materials, and diabetic patient education to be considered.

Diabetic Health Literacy and Associated Factors among Diabetic Patients Attending Outpatient Department at Public Hospitals in North Shoa Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia, 2022

“…This study also revealed that having more than one source of information was positively associated with diabetic health literacy level. This result goes in lined with study done in bale (20), Having variety of sources of information was positively associated with diabetic health literacy. This might be due to a person with different sources of information will get different ideas about health and strengthen the previous knowledge.…”

“…This study has shown a signi cant association between social support and diabetic health literacy level. Similar nding was found in china and in Bale, Ethiopia (20,34), indicating that strong social support and high diabetes health literacy were highly associated. This might be due to, participants with strong social support share information they have learned from various sources and the other possible reason might be strong social support can contribute for positive mental and physical health that enable patients to work toward a long-lasting healthy lifestyle(38).…”

“…Dependent variables: Diabetic health literacy Independent variables: Socio-demographic variables, clinical characteristics, Behavioral factors, information accessibility and psychosocial factors Operational de nitions High diabetic health literacy: for patients with diabetic health literacy assessment score greater than or equal to 75% (20,21).…”

“…Moreover, peoples with low DHL will nd it challenging to follow directions from doctors and communicate with the healthcare system (15,16) A recent systematic review showed that, inadequate diabetic health literacy was found to be present in 7.3-9.7% of cases. (17) And in Asian countries, the prevalence ranged from 71.7-82%(18, 19) The magnitude of limited diabetic health literacy in Ethiopia was 41.8% and 17.3% in bale and Gonder respectively (20,21) Despite the fact that studies have repeatedly shown an association between poor health literacy and poorer health outcomes, In Ethiopia, there is limited evidence on the factors related to diabetic health literacy. Only one study has been found that examines the association between these factors which is not enough for effective designing of health intervention program and to generalize about diabetic health literacy level.…”

Low Health Literacy (LHL): A Devious Enemy of Patient Treatment Adherence

“…However, no relationship was found between health literacy and intentional non-adherence, which includes stopping medications when feeling better or worse [44]. Studies show that LHL is connected with poorer disease knowledge and symptom recognition, poor glycemic or dyslipidemia control, greater difficulty interpreting food labels and estimating portion sizes, lower selfefficacy, higher level of body mass index, information gap in the use of medical devices for self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG), poorer communication with their providers, higher doses of insulin, more medical expenses and hospitalization among diabetes patients [45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52]. LHL is more common in people with hypertension and is associated with hypertension prevalence in selected ethnic groups [53].…”