Assessing the factors affecting on knowledge, attitude and practice among diabetic patient in central region of Saudi Arabia

Background: Diabetes is one of the fastest-growing public health problems, which causes major morbidity and mortality cases all over the world. Education of diabetic patients would be more effective if we knew the patients' levels of knowledge, attitudes, practices, and beliefs. Objective: to assess demographic and medical history factors affecting knowledge, attitude and practice among diabetic patients in the central region of Saudi Arabia Method: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study. Data were collected from a sample of 300 patients who completed an online questionnaire using the Survey Monkey website from 7th to 24th April 2015. A questionnaire was filled out, and SPSS version 22 was used for data analysis. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was used to compare means of continuous and categorical variables and to assess associations between them. P-value 0.05 were regarded as statistically significant Results: In the studied sample, there were also significant associations between higher knowledge scores and longer duration of diabetes (p<0.001), type I diabetes (p<0.001), insulin use (p=0.021) and information was provided in the education program about exercise performance (P= 0.001), diet, medications and self- test monitoring (P=0.002). A Significant association was found between attitude and higher education (P=0.012). There were also significant associations between higher attitude scores and almost all medical background variables. There was no association between practice score and demographic characteristics, but there were significant associations between higher practice scores in almost all medical histories. Conclusions: Knowledge and attitude about diabetes increase with the level of education. The longer the duration of diabetes and the longer patients with type 1 diabetes were on insulin, the higher the knowledge, attitude, and practice levels. Participants who receive information in the educated program about exercise performance, diet, medications, self-test and monitoring are associated with higher diabetes-related knowledge, attitudes and practice. A better-structured educational program on diabetes should be implemented to improve patients’ attitudes and practices towards the disease.