Diabetic self care practices in rural Mysuru, Southern Karnataka, India - A need for Diabetes Self Management Educational (DSME) program.

CONTEXT

Diabetes and its complications are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the world. Self care has emerged as a crucial element in the management of diabetes and a key factor associated with the quality of diabetic care.

AIMS

The purpose of the study was to assess the self care activities of patients with Type II diabetes mellitus in a rural area of Mysuru district.

SETTINGS AND DESIGN

A community based cross sectional descriptive study was carried out among 400 diabetic patients in rural Mysore.

METHODS AND MATERIAL

Self care Activities (Diet, exercise, self blood glucose monitoring, medication, foot care, smoking) were assessed using a pre designed and tested questionnaire.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED

Relevant descriptive analysis like percentages is carried out using SPSS version 22.0.

RESULTS

Most of the diabetic patients had good compliance for medication (92.5%), followed by 72% for diabetic diet. Only 27.75% of the diabetic patients participated in walking, 24.25% practised foot care, blood glucose monitoring by 24.75% and only 25.5% of them were current smokers.

CONCLUSIONS

The rural diabetic patients are more adherent and compliant to medication and diabetic diet and less compliant to physical activity, foot care and self glucose monitoring.