STUDY ON KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICES OF DIABETES MELLITUS AMONG DIABETIC PATIENTS IN A TERTIARY CARE TEACHING HOSPITAL

Rahul Sabbu*, Sai Kalyani B. P. and Doddayya H.

ABSTRACT

Background: Diabetes is one of the leading causes of death in the world. India currently represents 49% of the world’s diabetes burden, with an estimated 72 million cases in 2017. Poor awareness, negative attitudes and inadequate self-care practices among diabetic patients are some of the important variables influencing the progression of diabetes and its complications, which are largely preventable through education and involvement of the patient. Objective: The objective was to assess the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) regarding diabetes mellitus among diabetic patients attending General Medicine OPD department. Materials and Methods: Cross-sectional, questionnaire based study was done in 90 diabetic patients over a period of 6 months from October 2018 to February 2019 at NMCH&RC Raichur. Results: Most of the patients were in the age group of 40-50 years (37.7%) and female patients were more 51(56.66%) than the male patients 39 (43.3%). Majority of the patients were illiterates 84(93.3%). After analyzing the KAP scores, it was found that patients had poor knowledge, attitude and good practice towards Diabetes. The mean score of knowledge, attitude, and practice were found 1.99 (± 2.803), 1.167 (± 0.753) and 3.711 (± 2.057) respectively. Conclusion: These findings may be due to the illiteracy level. I strongly feel that there is a need to design and develop individualized diabetes educational program and also clinical pharmacist trained in diabetes management counsel patients during every visit could help to improve the knowledge and attitude of the diabetic patients.

Keywords: Diabetes mellitus, knowledge, Attitude, Practice, Patient Counselling.