Development of the scale for measuring patients' knowledge about diabetes

• Main Author: Tomić Sanja
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Medicinsko društvo za racionalnu terapiju Republike Srbije 2018-01-01
• Series: Racionalna Terapija
• Subjects: diabetes; patients; knowledge; questionnaire validation
• Online Access: https://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/1821-0538/2018/1821-05381801013T.pdf

Introduction: Diabetes as a chronic metabolic disease is serious health problem with a prevalence of 9% in the population older than 18 years. Mortality caused by diabetes in 2012 globally was 2.7%, and in Serbia 3.4%. A patient with his behavior might influence the outcome of the disease itself, and therefore adequate training of diabetics is important for prevention of complications of this disease. Materials and Methods: The study was designed as observational, analytical, cross-sectional investigation, based on a questionnaire for collection of data. The study population consisted of patients suffering from diabetes type one or two, treated at Endocrinology ward of Clinical Center Kragujevac. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Clinical Center Kragujevac. Objective: The aims of this study were to establish and validate an instrument for measuring patients' knowledge about diabetes, as well as to review and analyze knowledge of patients about their disease, and association of certain factors with that knowledge. Results: The study included a total of 302 patients suffering from diabetes, both types; there were 146 (48.3%) males, and 156 (51.7%) females. Value of Cronbach's alpha of 0.774 indicated satisfactory reliability of the questionnaire. Exploratory factorial analysis revealed four factors. The following variables were associated with knowledge of the patients about diabetes: the patient's age (β = -0.327; p = 0.000), level of education (β = 0.110; r = 0.032) and duration of the disease (β = 0,395; r = 0,000). Conclusion: Results of this study showed of good psychometric characteristics of the developed instrument. Knowledge of the patients with diabetes about their disease was satisfactory in the study sample, and associated with age, formal education of the patients and duration of the disease.