Abstract

Background and objective: Successful management of diabetes requires high degree of patient participation; this can be achieved by providing diabetic person with the knowledge and skills to perform self care on a day-to-day basis. This study aimed to assess the knowledge and practices of diabetic patients about diabetes in Erbil city.Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out during the period of April 2011 to April 2012 at Shahid Layla Qasm health center for diabetic care in Erbil city. The study involved a convenience sample of 400 diabetic patients aged ≥ 18 years old, both male and female. A specially designed questionnaire was used for data collection, which included socio-demographic characteristic of patients and other questions related to knowledge and practice about diabetes. SPSS was used for data entry and analysis.Results: Out of 400 study subjects, 18 (4.5%) had good knowledge score, 209 (52.3%) had acceptable knowledge score, and 137 (43.3%) had poor knowledge score about the diabetes. A statistically significant association was found between knowledge levels and age of patients (P=0.02). This study also showed that, only 51 (12.8%) of patients had good practices, while 213 (53.3%) of them had acceptable practices and 136 (33.9%) had bad practices. A statistically significant association was found between practice levels with occupation (non manual skilled or semiskilled); (P value <0.001) and educational level (institute and more); (P value <0.001).Conclusion: The rate of knowledge and practice was significantly associated with participants’ occupation and educational level. Those with low and acceptable knowledge had better practice than those who had good knowledge about diabetes.

Keywords

The article was added to IASJ on 2019-02-28

178 Total full text downloads since the date of addition