Obstacles for self-management practices among diabetes patients: A facility-based study from Coastal South India. [version 3; peer review: 2 approved]

Background The management of diabetes mellitus (DM) extends beyond clinical care, with self-care being equally important to achieve optimal treatment outcomes and prevent complications. Self-care in diabetes includes appropriate diet, regular exercise, blood glucose monitoring, medication adherence...

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Main Authors: Murali Mohan R, Rekha T, Balanarayana Suma, Nithin Kumar, Kausthubh Hegde, Bhaskaran Unnikrishnan, Prasanna Mithra, Ramesh Holla, Aysha Roushida Sahama M, Aadithya M Rao, Patil Nikitha
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: F1000 Research Ltd 2025-03-01
Series:F1000Research
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Online Access:https://f1000research.com/articles/12-839/v3
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Summary:Background The management of diabetes mellitus (DM) extends beyond clinical care, with self-care being equally important to achieve optimal treatment outcomes and prevent complications. Self-care in diabetes includes appropriate diet, regular exercise, blood glucose monitoring, medication adherence and foot care. The purpose of the study was to assess the obstacles faced by diabetes patients for self-care practices and to determine the factors associated with these obstacles. Methods A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 107 type 2 DM patients aged >18 years using the Diabetes Obstacles Questionnaire-30. Patients scoring a mean score >3 were considered to have an obstacle. We included age, gender, socioeconomic status (SES), duration of DM and blood glucose levels as factors for regression analysis and a p-value <0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Results A large majority (64.5%, n = 69) of our participants were aged above 55 years and belonged to lower socioeconomic status (65.4%, n = 70). Family history of DM was present in 41% (n=44) of the participants. The median duration of DM among the participants was 10 (4 – 7) years. In our study, the participants faced obstacles for two items in the domains: Support from friends & family (mean score: 3.73) and knowledge of the disease (mean score: 3.58). A multinominal regression analysis revealed SES was a predictive factor for participants who could not understand information from literature with a p-value of 0.002 (OR: 3.65, CI: 1.60-8.338). Conclusion The two major obstacles to diabetes self-management practices were in the domains of support from friends and family, and knowledge of the disease. Socioeconomic status was identified as a predictive factor associated with the participants who could not understand information from the literature.
ISSN:2046-1402