Abstract

Diabetes self-care management behaviors are considered as an integral part of diabetes care, which can be seen as an intermediate outcomes indicator and a possible measure of short term outcome, and would lead to improvement in glycemic control, prevent/delay development of diabetic complications, and reduce costs and mortality rates. This study aimed to assess diabetes self-care management behaviors and their relationship with patient characteristics and organizational factors. This study was cross-sectional. The study sample that fulfilled inclusion criteria were recruited by convenient sampling method. Main outcome of interest in the study was diabetes self-care management behaviors, which were assessed during patients’ visit to the National Center for Chronic Diseases and Dermatology at Ramallah, Palestine. A face-to-face interview of patients by structured questionnaires and review of patients’ medical records sought information about socio-demographic, clinical diabetes-related characteristics, organizational factors, and diabetes self-care management behaviors. Univariate and multivariate analysis were carried out by Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS v16). Three hundred thirty patients were recruited. The mean ± SD age of the participants was 60 ± 9.7 years. More than half of the participants (51.2%) were male, 88.5% had chronic diseases, and 46.1% were obese. The overall level of patient adherence to a self–care regimen was appropriate (cumulative percentage = 52%). Multivariate analysis showed the following variables were significantly related to diabetes self-care management behaviors: marital status, body mass index, and diabetes duration were significantly related to follow a diabetic meal plan; number of chronic diseases was significantly related to participation in physical exercise; marital status and insulin treatment were significantly related to self–monitoring of blood glucose; and gender and diabetes duration were significantly related to medication adherence, respectively. Further investigation and improvement of inappropriate diabetes self-care management behaviors, and educational programs that emphasize diabetes self-care management behaviors and factors significantly related to them would be of great benefit in achieving improvement with adherence to a self-care regimen

Key words: Self-care regimen, Diabetes self-care management; Type II diabetes, Palestine