Knowledge and Practices of Diabetes Foot Care and Risk of Developing Foot Ulcers in México May Have Implications for Patients of Méxican Heritage Living in the US

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between knowledge and foot care practices among adults with type 2 diabetes. Methods A descriptive correlational study examined 200 patients with type 2 diabetes in México. Data collected included the Knowledge and Practices Self-Care Questionnaire and a Podiatry Examination Questionnaire. Data analysis included Pearson's correlations and chi-square tests. Results More than half of the participants had poor knowledge and poor foot care practices. A significant negative correlation between knowledge and practices of foot care and risk of developing diabetes foot ulcers was found. There was no relationship between sociodemographic variables and the risk of developing diabetes foot ulcers. Conclusions Patients with type 2 diabetes served in an outpatient clinic had poor knowledge and practices of foot care. They demonstrated decreased knowledge and practice of foot care and therefore showed a greater risk of developing diabetes foot, which may predispose patients to early complications.

Conhecimentos e práticas para a prevenção do pé diabético

“…There was likewise a correlation between self-care and the person's sex, which differs from the studies reviewed, where no statistically significant associations were found between these two variables (9,20) . It was also found that spouses play an essential role in care and dietary support, and that living with a family promotes preventive health care support among family members (14) .…”

“…The mean age was 62 years (SD±11.1), homemaker was the predominant occupation, and most were mated and lived with their spouse and/ or children. In various studies (9,(13)(14)(15)(16) the sociodemographic characterization obtained similar results to those in the present study.…”

“…In relation to the sociodemographic characteristics, the majority were women, an aspect also found in an investigation conducted in Mexico (9) . The mean age was 62 years (SD±11.1), homemaker was the predominant occupation, and most were mated and lived with their spouse and/ or children.…”

“…At the same time, knowledge is conducive to proper foot care, whereas lack of knowledge and/or clear daily foot care plans increases the risk of developing ulcers and amputations (9) . It also leads to inadequate practices and confirms the thesis that even diabetics with proper attitudes are unable to perform correct self-care practices (10) .…”

How to Measure Foot Self-Care? A Methodological Review of Instruments

“…Table S2: Methodological quality of included studies ( n = 53) using MMAT tool. Table S3: Detailed analysis of psychometric evidence of six instruments measuring foot self-care, analysed against the criteria proposed by Zwakhalen and colleagues [ 28 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 , 83 , 84 ].…”