Factors Associated with Self-Care Management Practices among Patients with Diabetes Mellitus Type II in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Diabetic patients’ self-care management practices help to keep diabetes under control, which includes performing activities such as eating a healthy diet, physical activity in regular patterns, conducting foot care, adhering to medication, and self-monitoring of blood glucose. The aim of the current study is to identify the factors which are associated with self-care management practices among patients with diabetes mellitus Type II in Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional design was applied in this study among patients with type II DM in the Prince Sultan Military Medical City in Riyadh, in which a convenience sampling technique was applied to recruit the patients, and the total number of samples collected was 377. The summary of Diabetes Self-care Activities (SDSCA) instrument, which was adopted from AlJohani et al. (2016), was used in the current study to collect data. The mean percentage of patients’ self-care management practices among type II diabetic patients is 51.29%. A significant association was revealed between self-care management practices and patients’ factors such as gender, age, educational level, and income in some domains. There is a need to educate low educated diabetic patients on self-care management and those who have low income. The dissemination of leaflets that give information to patients and can be shared and read with their families needs to be widely circulated. Health education information that is delivered through TV channels and social media is also required.