Self-care practice and its associated factors among diabetic patients attending public hospitals in Gurage zone southwest, Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Diabetes is a chronic disease that requires lifelong medical treatment and lifestyle modifications. Even though patients often neglect their own needs, self-care is an important factor in preventing and delaying complications related to diabetes. There are limited studies about self-care practice, and most of the studies conducted in Ethiopia focused on some parts of the recommended self-care practice. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the self-care practice and associated factors among diabetic patients in Gurage zone, south Ethiopia. METHODS: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted from February 6 to March 29, 2021. A systematic sampling method was employed to select 420 study participants. The data were collected using a pretested interviewer-administered questionnaire. All variables with P < 0.25 in the bi-variable logistic regression analysis were entered into multivariable logistic regression analysis. The statistical significance was declared at a p-value < 0.05. RESULTS: A total of 384 diabetes patients participated with a response rate of 91.4%. This study showed that more than half (60.4%) of the study participants had poor self-care practices. Being female (AOR: 2.40; 95% CI:1.31–4.40), rural residence (AOR:7.16;95% CI: 3.31–15.46), duration of diabetes treatment 5–10 years (AOR: 0.03; 95% CI: 0.1–0.11), duration of diabetes treatment ≥ 10 years (AOR:0.8; 95% CI: 0.03–0.21), haven’t social support (AOR: 0.10; 95% CI: 0.05–0.23), haven’t got health education (AOR: 0.17,95%CI 0.09–0.32) were factors significantly associated with self-care practice. CONCLUSIONS: Despite, the importance of diabetes self-care practice for the management of diabetes and preventing its complications, a high number of diabetes patients had poor self-care practices. Female, rural residence, duration of diabetes mellitus, lack of social support, and not get of health education were significantly associated with poor self-care practice. Therefore, health care providers should give attention to diabetic patients with the aforementioned factors that affect diabetic patients’ self-care practices.