Knowledge Attitude and Perception of Diabetes Mellitus Among Students of University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, South–south Zone Nigeria

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic, progressive systemic disease characterized by dysfunction in the metabolism of fats, carbohydrates, and protein resulting from absolute or relative insulin deficiency. This study therefore aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude and perception (KAP) of diabetes mellitus among undergraduate students of University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State in South -South zone of Nigeria. A cross sectional study was conducted between June and December 2016. Data were collected from the participants using structured, pre-tested questionnaire. A total of 280 respondents participated in the study. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS version 16 for means, frequency and ANOVA. The result showed that, of the total number of participants, 52.1% were male and 94.3% were within the ages of 19yrs -25yrs. The respondents showed high level of awareness of DM relating to respondents' sources of information about diabetes mellitus. However, their knowledge level about DM as relates to its cause, risk factors and complications was poor. For each of the knowledge response, the Science -based students showed higher knowledge (p<0.05) than the Arts-based students. Female gender, older age, and higher level of year of study showed comparatively better knowledge (p<0.05).Overall attitude among respondents was moderate with good perception. In conclusion this study identified poor knowledge score about DM