DIABETIC FOOT CARE KNOWLEDGE AND ITS ASSOCIATED FACTORS AMONG TYPE 2 DIABETES PATIENTS

Background:Diabetes is traditionally known as a “silent disease,” exhibiting no symptoms until it progresses to severe target organ damage. Aims & Objective: The study was conducted to determine the knowledge of foot care, knowledge regarding foot care practice and its associated factors among type 2 diabetes patients. Material and Methods: A Community based cross-sectional study was conducted at a primary health centre, Pondicherry, 107 subjects were selected by convenience sampling technique. Data was collected from December 2020 to March 2021, among type 2 diabetes who attended the diabetic clinic. A validated pretested questionnaire was used to assess the knowledge of foot care, knowledge regarding foot care practice and its associated factors among type 2 diabetes patients. Data was analysed using SPSS 21.Results: Among 107 diabetes patients 70.1%of them had poor knowledge in foot care and 28% of them had poor Knowledge regarding practice of foot care. There was highly significant (p<0.001) relationship between knowledge of foot care and Knowledge regarding Practice of foot care. There was highly significant association (p<0.05) between the knowledge of foot care with selected demographic variables of gender, occupation, alcohol consumption, regularity of treatment and source of information.Conclusions: It is a need of the hour to conduct health education programme to create awareness among rural people for better glycaemic control and prevention of ulcer foot in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients.