Self-Care Practice and Associated Factors Among Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus at a Referral Hospital in Northern Ethiopia – a Mixed Methods Study

Abstract

Introduction: Diabetes self-care is important to maintain optimal glycemic control and prevent debilitating and costly complications. Diabetes self-care may be improved through the identification of individual and group barriers to regimen adherence and subsequent development of specific plans to overcome these barriers. This study assessed the self-care practice and associated factors among type 2 diabetes patients attending their treatment at Dessie Referral Hospital, Dessie, North-Eastern Ethiopia. Methods: The study employed parallel mixed methods design which followed a cross-sectional interview and in-depth interview methods respectively from September to October 2019. The collected data were subjected to descriptive and inferential analysis for the quantitative part and a thematic analysis for the qualitative part. The protocol for this study was ethically approved (CMHS/013/519/12). Results: A total of 328 type 2 diabetes patients participated in the study of which 50.3% reported good self-care practice. Being in the age category of 60–69 years old (AOR = 0.334, 95% CI (0.135, 0.951)), being ≥ 70 years old (AOR = 0.359, 95% CI (0.135,0.951)), having complications (AOR = 1.956, 95% CI (1.172, 3.262)), having co-morbidity (AOR = 0.443, 95%CI (0.262, 0.749)) and diabetes education (AOR = 2.684, 95%CI (1.633,4.412) were significantly associated with good diabetes self-care. Accessibility, social support, knowledge and beliefs and diabetes related morbidities were identified as barriers to diabetes self-care by the patients. Conclusion: The findings from this study revealed that only half of the type 2 diabetes patients who participated in this study reported good self-care practice. Different factors including diabetes education were significantly associated with good diabetes self-care according to the quantitative study. This was supported by the findings from the qualitative part and thus the recommendation to strengthen diabetes health education to patients and their families.

Self-care practice and its barriers among diabetes patients in North East Ethiopia: A facility-based cross-sectional study

“…A study conducted in Northern Ethiopia revealed that the overall good self-care practice was 50.3%. This study also showed that 39.3% and 54.9% of the study participants had good exercise and diet adherence, respectively [14]. Another survey from Ethiopian General Hospital indicated that (63.1%) of study participants had good self-care practices.…”