Health literacy and cognitive function in people with diabetic foot ulcer with focus on knowledge, attitude, and practice in relation to foot self-care.

INTRODUCTION

Preventative foot self-care is vital for avoiding diabetic foot ulcer episodes and lowering the risk of amputations. Yet, it demands high levels of health literacy and cognitive function.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate health literacy and cognitive function in persons presenting with a diabetic foot ulcer.

METHODS

Participants with type 2 diabetes were recruited from the tertiary foot clinic at Steno Diabetes Center North Denmark. The European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire and Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination were applied. A semi-structured interview guide was developed to evaluate foot self-care knowledge, attitude, and practice. The qualitative data were analyzed with a deductive approach based on a qualitative thematic analysis model. Subsequently, an integrated analysis of the quantitative and qualitative results was conducted.

RESULTS

The participants ( = 12) had a mean age of 62.6 ± 8.4 years, and 11 were males. The mean diabetes duration was 15.9 ± 8.9 years. Eight participants had a recurrent diabetic foot ulcer. The health literacy level was sufficient in nine participants, and cognitive function was normal in five participants. Three different profiles related to foot self-care (, , or , respectively) were constructed by the final integrated analysis: profile refers to taking preventative action in concordance with knowledge and attitude, an profile to taking action in response to a situation, but challenged by conflicting levels of knowledge and attitude, and a profile to not taking action.

CONCLUSION

The study suggests that people presenting with a diabetic foot ulcer have different foot self-care profiles based on person-specific health literacy, cognitive function, and knowledge, attitude, and practice element characteristics, highlighting the need for individualized education and intervention strategy instead of a one-size-fits-all approach.