Diabetes self-care activities: A community-based survey in an urban slum in Hyderabad, India

Abstract

Background: Diabetes is a chronic illness with silent manifestations, which can be better managed by the individual through self-care behaviors such as diet control, proper exercise, monitoring blood glucose, and adherence to dug. Objective: The present study was conducted to assess the prevalence of existing self-care behaviors among people with diabetes and its associated factors. Methods: It was a community-based, cross-sectional study conducted in an urban slum in Hyderabad. A total of 208 cases of diabetes mellitus were interviewed. The details of diabetes self-care activities were recorded by using the modified Summary Diabetes Self-care Activities Questionnaire. The data were analyzed by applying SPSS US at 24, and the factors associated with good self-care behavior were found. Results: The study revealed that the prevalence of good dietary behavior, good exercise behavior, good monitoring behavior, and good drug adherence was 29.8%, 30.3%, 44.2%, and 56.3%, respectively. Education of secondary class and above (odds ratio [OR] 3.001; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.139–6.447) was found to be associated with good dietary behavior, and male gender (OR 3.691; 95% CI: 1.965–6.936) was associated with good exercise behavior. Good monitoring behavior and good drug behavior were found to be associated with higher socioeconomic status (OR 4.540; 95% CI: 2.418–8.522) and age 50 years and above (OR 3.4; 95% CI: 1.731–6.675), respectively. Conclusion: Good dietary and exercise behavior were found poor in comparison to good monitoring behavior and drug adherence. The factors significantly associated were male sex, higher education, higher socioeconomic status, and age above 50 years.

Evaluation of Self-Management Behaviors and Its Correlation with the Metabolic Syndrome among the Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients of Northern Saudi Arabia

“…Interestingly, a study conducted in a tertiary care center in the KSA and another study by Almomani et al also found that the lowest score was in exercise sessions and the highest score on the medication adherence scale; however, their scores were slightly higher than the present study in most of the subscales [ 21 , 30 ]. Even though a community-based survey conducted in India among diabetes patients showed similar trend findings across the subscales of self-management behavior, their participants’ overall scores were lower than our study [ 31 ]. We identified the major area of concern in self-care management, which is regular exercise, an essential component of self-care behavior that is to be followed.…”

“If I am free from diabetes, that itself will be the happiest thing”: A convergent mixed methods study of the lived experiences of young adults with type 2 diabetes in Mysore district, India

“…Previous research amongst Asian young adults in China and Singapore recognized that adherence to diabetes medication is poorer in younger adults than in older adults [28]. Researchers found similar results in urban slums in South India, where the overall prevalence of self-care activities was low, indicating a need for more awareness and education about diabetes self-care management [38]. South Asian populations with T2D have been shown to experience these barriers to self-care activities, including communication discordance, lack of knowledge and misperceptions about the condition and management, gender-specific roles, lack of family support and cultural appropriateness [39].…”

Self-management of chronic, non-communicable diseases in South Asian settings: A systematic mixed-studies review

“…Higher age was associated with better self-management in nine studies—the consistency of findings, despite most studies being moderate quality suggested reasonable confidence in the evidence. There was limited evidence of an inverse association from three studies for exercise, self-monitoring and foot care in diabetes [ 36 , 41 ], and for medication adherence in patients undergoing stroke recovery [ 49 ]. Two of these studies used higher age cutoffs (≥60, ≥70 years) suggesting that the relationship between age and self-management could be non-linear [ 53 ].…”

“…being less educated was associated with higher self-management) was a low-quality study based on a small study sample (n = 150) [ 74 ]. Studies that observed multiple self-management behaviours reported mixed findings, with education inversely associated with exercise, diet and foot care [ 36 , 48 ].…”

“…Higher individual or household income was associated with better self-management in six studies, of which four were moderate-quality studies. A limited set of studies, including two that observed wider socio-economic status (incorporating occupation and education in addition to household income) and those observing multiple self-management behaviours reported variations by the type of observed behaviour, with poorer dietary and exercise behaviours reported in higher SES categories [ 36 , 39 , 72 ].…”