Abstract

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus (DM) type II is one of the most common chronic disease conditions in human history and now it is emerging as an epidemic of the 21st century. Besides the global epidemicity, DM is increasing and becoming a priority disease especially in countries undergoing socio-economic transformation. It has been recommended that self-care, Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) about the disease is the cornerstone for proper management. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the levels of Knowledge, Attitude, and practice of patients with Diabetes mellitus Type II in Asmara, Eritrea.

Methods: Cross-sectional study on Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of diabetic patients was conducted starting from May 1st to July 1st, 2018, at Halibet and Haz-Haz hospital diabetic clinics, Asmara. The study participants included were from two hospitals based and selected by systematic random sampling. Data collection was done using a structured questionnaire and data were analyzed using SPSS version 25 software. Statistical analyses included correlation tests, ANOVA and t-test.

Results: Three hundred seventy adult diabetic patients, 45.9% males and 54.1% females were enrolled participated in the study. The majority (97%) was greater than 40 years of age and 54% had a family history of Type II diabetes. The levels of diabetic patients’ knowledge attitude, and practice were 51.9%, 40.9 % and 42.6 %, respectively. There was a significant correlation between age, sex (male), educational level, family history, duration of diabetes mellitus and use of oral hypoglycemic agents in combination to Insulin with KAP level.

Conclusions: The results of this study showed that KAP regarding diabetes mellitus to be low. The presences of complications were found to be significantly associated with attitude. The study results were also found to have a significant association and positive correlation with duration of DM. Therefore, the study results recommend continuous education about DM and its complications mainly to a newly diagnosed patient’s in order to create early awareness and good knowledge. 

Keywords

knowledge, attitude, practice, diabetes mellitus, type II