A study to evaluate self–foot care behaviour in Indian patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Bhattacharjee Kingshuk; Maiti Animesh; Swagata Ruj Maiti

Volume : IX, Issue : XI, November - 2019

A study to evaluate self–foot care behaviour in Indian patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Bhattacharjee Kingshuk, Maiti Animesh, Swagata Ruj Maiti

Abstract :

Background: The benefits of self–foot care management are well recognized in type 2 diabetes subjects. However, a substantial proportion of patients don’t perform self–foot care assessment at all. We aimed to enumerate the barriers to self–foot care management in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) patients and factors associated with these barriers. Methodology: A cross–sectional study of successive 600 type 2 diabetes patients attending routine out–patient diabetes clinics in tertiary care hospitals in Kolkata, India from 1st June 2018 to 31st March 2019.Besides demographic details, patient particulars, laboratory investigations, the questionnaire included 2 direct questions on possible barriers to self–foot care management. The questions were grouped into five categories viz. environmental (4 questions), behavioral (9 questions), occupational (2 questions), physical inability (7 questions) and medical reason (1 question). Results: An overwhelming 60% of the study population have more than one barrier to self–foot management. A larger proportion of females (69.9%) were not taking self–foot care management compared to their male counterparts (55.5%). Around one–third of the male participants cited lack of time as a major barrier to self–foot care management. Around 40% females reported lack of foot care education and training as the major obstacle to self–foot care management. Conclusion: This study elaborates the need for awareness regarding possible barriers when counseling T2DM patients. Behavioral causes seem to be the commonest barrier to self–foot care management and hence strategies to target the same needs to be thought of.