Social and Psychological Evaluations of Diabetic Patients Towards Disease Management: A Cross Sectional-Study at a University Health Center in Malaysia
2798-2803
Correspondence
Mahmoud Al-Haddad : PhD
Lecturer & Researcher
Discipline of Social and Administrative Pharmacy,School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, (Malaysia)
Email: dr_mahmoud77@hotmail.com
Tel: +6 012 5534547
Objectives: This study aims to explore the social and psychological behaviours among diabetic patients regarding diabetes and its treatment at a University Health Center in Malaysia.
Setting: Health Center of Universiti Sains Malaysia
Methods: A cross sectional study design was used to explore the patients’ social and psychological domains of diabetes and its treatment by using a Diabetes Care Profile (DCP) questionnaire. All questions used were based on a 5-point Likert scale and appropriate statistical tests were conducted at a significant level of less than 0.05.
Results: The patients showed good level of diabetes understanding, care ability, importance of care, positive attitudes, self care adherence and long term benefits. In addition, they showed a low impact of diabetes on their social and personal lives and low negative attitudes. Adherence to a good diet was seen as the most difficult behaviour to change among diabetic patients. Patients with fewer years with diabetes scored significantly better than those with more years with diabetes, in most of the domains of this study.
Conclusion: A majority of the patients showed a good level of understanding about diabetes and its treatment. Difficulty in controlling diet was the major problem which was identified by most of the respondents. Therefore, these study findings could be used to develop better counseling and educational programs for diabetic patients based on their needs.