Foot self care: knowledge, practice and barriers among diabetic patients

Abstract

Background: Diabetic foot is one of the most frightened complications of diabetes and is the leading cause of hospitalization among diabetic pa-tients. Aim: This study was carried out to evaluate foot self care knowledge, practice, and barriers among diabetic patients. Subjects: A purposive sample of 118 adult diabetic patients was chosen. Setting: The study was conducted at the outpatient clinics of diabetes and in patient medical ward at Ain Shams University Hospital. Design: Analytic design was used. Tool: A structured interview questionnaire was developed and utilized by the researchers. It in-cluded six parts. Results: The mean age of subjects was 47.63+ 9.66years.About two thirds of patients (63.6%) had no diabetic foot care education experiences. More than three fourths of subjects who had poor foot care practice (77.6%) didn’t have complete information about foot care (80%).The majority (81%) of subjects who had poor foot care practice didn’t have diabetic foot care education prac-tice. 55% and 73.3% of subjects who had fair knowledge about diabetes ,foot problem and care respectively had good foot care practice.63.2%and73.5% of subjects who had fair knowledge about diabetes, foot prob-lems and care respectively, had good foot wear practice. Conclusion: low level of education to foot care practice has significant asso-ciation with current foot care practice. Incomplete information about foot care is the most important barrier associated with poor foot care prac-tice. Recommendation: A diabetes self care hand book about diabetes information, foot problems prevention and care should be available for all diabetic patients. Specialized team for diabetic foot care should be available in outpa-tient clinic to assess, prevent and man-age any foot problems. Also this team should provide continuous education for diabetic patient about proper foot care.