Self-care Related Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice and Associated Factors Among Patients with Type 2 Diabetes in JMC, Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: A patient's knowledge, attitude and practice toward diabetes self-care is found to be imperative for them to attain the desired treatment targets and contribute meaningfully in the management of their disease. OBJECTIVE: To assess the knowledge, attitude and practice towards diabetes self-care with the associated factors among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in Jimma Medical Center, Ethiopia. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine knowledge, attitude, and practice toward diabetes self-care. Three hundred and seventy-one T2DM patients attending Jimma Medical Center from March 30 to June 1, 2019 were included in this study and an interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data. SPSS version 20 was used for descriptive and logistic regression analysis. Odds ratios and their 95% confidence intervals together with p-value <0.05 were used to declare statistical significance. RESULTS: Out of 371 patients, 201 (54.2%) were male. Of the total, 235 (63.3%) had good knowledge, 221 (59.6%) had positive attitude, and 201 (54.2%) had good self-care practice toward diabetes. Primary educational level (AOR=1.895) was associated with poor knowledge of diabetes, while urban living (AOR=0.570) was protective for low knowledge of diabetes. Monthly income <1000 Ethiopian birr (ETB); (AOR=2.723) and 1000–3000 ETB; (AOR=1.126), illiterate (AOR=2.3), and duration of diabetes mellitus (DM) <5 years (AOR=2.242) were significantly associated with negative attitude. Having other comorbidities (AOR=0.602) was less likely to have negative attitude towards diabetes. Patients age, 41–50 years (AOR=2.256), and 51–60 years (AOR=2.677), education: being illiterate (AOR=4.372), primary level (AOR=4.514), and earning monthly income <1000 ETB (AOR=4.229) were significantly associated with poor self-care practice. On the contrary, being male (AOR=0.198) was less likely to have a poor self-care practice. CONCLUSION: The knowledge level, attitude status and self-care practice among T2DM patients were found to be optimal.