| dc.description.abstract | ABSTRACT
Background information: Diabetes self-care helps to control the blood sugar which, in turn, results in better health: Globally, type 2 diabetes mellitus (DMT2) is considered as one of the most common non-communicable diseases. The etiology of T2DM is complex and is associated with both irreversible risk factors such as age, genetic, and ethnicity, and reversible factors such as diet, physical activity and smoking. Therefore, the effective management of DM type 2 entails modification of the reversible factors through the use of Medicines, Exercise, DM plate, which are solely coupled to Self-Care.
OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to assess the determinants of Self-Care among DM type 2 patients aged 35-75 years attending to DM clinic of MRRH.
METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study that collected data from 100 OPD DM type 2 patients selected by simple random sampling was carried out at the DM clinic of Mubende Regional Referral Hospital. Using mixed methods, data was collected. Using Epi-data Version 3.1, a SPSS file was generated and then exported to STATA 10.0 for analysis
RESULTS: The determinants of self-care were DM type 2 patients’ knowledge (X2= 13.545, P=0.04), attitudes (X2= 4.424, P=0.035), and practices. X2= 17.647, P=0.001). Majority of the respondents were females (68.0%) and marital status had a significant association with exercise (X2= 8.985, P=0.029). Of the 100 respondents, 85(85.0%) followed the recommendations on physical activities and 89(89%) followed a recommended diabetes diet. Sixty-two (62.0%) of the respondents reported having missed drugs for diabetes in the last one month at least once 42(42.0%): 27(27.0%) respondents could not tell when their blood sugar levels fell below normal while taking oral anti-diabetic drugs. 34.0% reported that they would reduce on food intake in case they found out that their weight had increased a contradiction to proper DM type 2 Self-Care. Nearly all respondents reported having their weights taken (72.0%), and more than half had their blood sugar monitored (54.0%) in the last two months from the DM clinic: No patient reported to have done self assessment from home in the past 2 months.
CONCLUSION: Patients lacked personal tools for self-assessment and despite the adequate knowledge on diet; majority could not integrate it into their daily staple food. Majority of the patients did not know what to do in-case they realized that their weight had increased. Consequent improvement in Self-Care knowledge, attitude, and practices lead to better control of the disease | en_US |
