Knowledge and Practice of Preventive Measures against Diabetes Mellitus amongst Secondary School Teachers in Awka South LGA of Anambra State, Nigeria

Abstract

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a growing public health concern in both developed and developing countries. The successful management of the disease is however dependent on the patients’ abilities to undertake self-care in their daily lives. Patient education is also considered an essential component of achieving this objective.

Aim/Objectives: To determine the knowledge, attitude, practice and factors influencing the practice of preventive measures for diabetes mellitus amongst secondary school teachers in Awka South LGA of Anambra state.

Method: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study in which data was collected using self-administered questionnaires among 180 consenting study participants. The Cluster sampling technique was used to select the study participants. Response rate was 99%.

Results: The mean knowledge and attitude scores were 31.76 ± 12.0% and 58.28 ± 26.02% respectively. The respondents that do not perform exercise were 36 (22.5% while 34 (21.3%) exercise daily and 30 (18.8%), exercise once in a week. Less than half of the respondents 72 (43.6%), practice regular/ routine medical checkup. It was observed that 41.3% attributed the major factor which positively influenced the practice of DM to always been health conscious as a person and 27.4% to been aware of DM and the problem it causes while 32.7% attributed the major factor which negatively influenced their practice of preventive measures to not being well informed of DM while 30.9% don’t believe they can suffer from the disease and 27.3% do not have time. There is a statistical significant difference between Gender, Marital status and Ethnic group and the practice of regular/ routine medical checkup among the respondents (χ2=7.236, p = 0.007), (χ2=0.048, p = 0.048) and (χ2=0.003, p = 0.003) respectively. A high proportion of the respondents 137 (80.6%) do not consume alcohol in comparison with those who do, 33 (119.4%). All of the respondents 168 (100%), do not smoke.

Conclusion and recommendations: This study demonstrated a poor mean knowledge and fair attitude scores towards DM. Most of the preventive measures were practiced by a high proportion of the respondents except for routine medical checkup which was practiced by less than half of the respondents. Proper education and awareness program tailored to the need of the patients’ group can improve their knowledge, change their attitude and improve their practice of preventive measures towards DM.