Scarborough Health Centre, Primary Health Care Department, Bacolet Street, Scarborough, Tobago, Trinidad and Tobago.
Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, North-West University, Potchefstroom 2520, South Africa.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Jul 29;18(15):8021. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18158021.
Globally, the prevalence of diabetes has risen significantly by 62% over the last ten years. A complication of unmanaged diabetes is diabetic foot ulcer (DFU), which adversely affects the quality of life of individuals with diabetes and inflicts a huge economic burden on the family, government, and health care services. However, this complication is preventable with adequate patient knowledge and practice regarding DFU and foot care. The present study was aimed at assessing the knowledge, attitude, and practice of adults with diabetes on foot ulcers and foot care in Tobago using a qualitative exploratory design. Purposeful sampling technique was used to recruit 20 participants from the lifestyle and diabetes foot clinics of Scarborough Health Centre, Tobago. Telephone interviews were conducted with the use of a semi-structured interview guide. The data obtained from participants were analyzed using thematic content analysis. Four major themes, namely foot ulcer problems, participants' knowledge on DFU, knowledge on foot care, and practice and attitude of foot care, emerged from the study. The findings from the study revealed that the majority of participants had poor knowledge regarding DFU but exhibited awareness about foot care, especially on foot cleaning and inspection, preventing irritation after washing, appropriate footwear, and not walking barefooted. The participants had good attitudes and practices of foot care despite their poor knowledge of DFU. However, participants reported inadequate health education on DFU and foot care from healthcare personnel. There should be improved health education, information, and communication on DFU and foot care centred and tailored to the understanding of people living with diabetes. This will prevent DFU and reduce the mortality arising from this complication, which is a major target of the sustainable development goals (SDG) in mitigating the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCD) such as diabetes.
全球范围内，过去十年间糖尿病的患病率显著上升了 62%。糖尿病管理不善的一个并发症是糖尿病足溃疡（DFU），这会降低糖尿病患者的生活质量，并给家庭、政府和医疗保健服务带来巨大的经济负担。然而，通过患者充分了解 DFU 和足部护理知识并加以实践，这种并发症是可以预防的。本研究旨在采用定性探索性设计评估多巴哥成年人对足部溃疡和足部护理的糖尿病知识、态度和实践。采用目的抽样技术从斯卡伯勒保健中心的生活方式和糖尿病足诊所招募了 20 名参与者。使用半结构式访谈指南进行电话访谈。使用主题内容分析法对参与者获得的数据进行分析。研究得出了四个主要主题，即足部溃疡问题、参与者对 DFU 的知识、足部护理知识、以及足部护理的实践和态度。研究结果表明，大多数参与者对 DFU 的知识掌握较差，但对足部护理有一定的认识，特别是在足部清洁和检查、清洗后防止刺激、适当的鞋子和不赤脚行走方面。尽管参与者对 DFU 的知识掌握较差，但他们对足部护理的态度和实践良好。然而，参与者报告说，医疗保健人员对他们进行的 DFU 和足部护理健康教育不足。应该加强以糖尿病患者的理解为中心和量身定制的 DFU 和足部护理方面的健康教育、信息和沟通。这将预防 DFU 并降低由此并发症引起的死亡率，这是减轻非传染性疾病（NCD）负担的可持续发展目标（SDG）的主要目标之一，如糖尿病。
