Self-care practices among type II diabetics in rural area of Kancheepuram district, Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Introduction: Type 2 diabetes mellitus is one of the most prevalent noncommunicable diseases in India. The acute and chronic complications of diabetes impact the physical, mental, and social well-being of the patients, thereby, placing a major burden on the health care system. Studies have shown that adequate self-care practices among the patients will facilitate good glycemic control and prevent complications. Objectives: To study the patterns of self-care practice among diabetic patients and the factors associated with them. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out among 250 diabetics in the rural field practice area of a Tertiary Medical College and Hospital in Chennai. The participants were interviewed on their diabetic status and various components of self-care practices adopted from The Summary of Diabetes Self-care Activities (SDSCA) Measure. Adherence to medication was assessed by using Morisky Medication Adherence Scale-4 (MMAS-4). Results: Our study observed that the overall prevalence of good self-care practices was very low (5.6%). Moderate self-care practices were prevalent in 42% of the study participants whereas the majority (52.4%) of the study population had poor self-care practices. In our study, the association between self-care activity with educational status and occupation was found to be statistically significant. Adherence was high for blood sugar testing (75.2%) and medication (70.4%) in the study population whereas adherence for foot care was poor (17.6%). Conclusion: Our study emphasized on the need for knowledge and awareness to be provided in rural areas regarding diabetes care management and self-care practices. Structured programs need to be planned to improve the attitude and practices of diabetic patients to promote better compliance towards diet, exercise, adherence to drugs, and appropriate foot care.

Knowledge and Self-Care Practice Regarding Diabetes among Patient Diagnosed with Diabetes Mellitus in Selected Hospitals, Kamrup (M), Assam, with a View to Develop Information Booklet on Management of Diabetes: A Descriptive Study

“…The study is contradicted to the study conducted by Karthik RC, Radhakrishnan A, Vikram A, et al, (2020), cross sectional study on Self-care practices among type II diabetics in rural area of Kancheepuram district, Tamil Nadu. The result reveals that the overall prevalence of good self-care practices was very low (5.6%).…”

“…Moderate self-care practices were prevalent in 42% of the study participants whereas the majority (52.4%) of the study population had poor self-care practices regarding diabetes. [5] The study reveals that there is a moderate positive correlation between knowledge and practice scores where the value of r=0.430 which clearly infers that when the knowledge regarding diabetes among patients diagnosed with diabetes mellitus increases their practice level also increases…”

Knowledge, self-care practices and adherence to medical regimen among diabetic patients

“…Results were similar to study conducted by Karthik et al out of 250 participants, 5.6% had good self-care, 42% had moderate self-care and 52% had very poor self-care. 10 In medication adherence, the outcome of the study revealed that out of total 150 samples majority 78% (117) participants had good adherence, 13.3% (20) participants had excellent adherence and only 8.6% ( 13) participants had poor level of adherence to medical regimen for diabetes mellitus. Srividya et al to assess adherence to medication among adults with diabetes mellitus of total 150 participants.…”

Recognition of symptoms, mitigating mechanisms and self-care experiences of type 2 diabetes patients receiving insulin treatment in North-East Ethiopia

“…Similarly, patients in Butajiara and Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) have strictly adhered to their diabetes medicines (Habte et al, 2016). Medication adherence was also found to be high in quantitative (Chinnappan et al, 2020;Karthik et al, 2020;Uma Maheshwari et al, 2017) and qualitative (Selvaraj et al, 2016) studies done in India. However, in contrast to this study, in a quantitative study in southwest Ethiopia, medication adherence was low with poor self-care behaviors (Kassahun et al, 2016).…”