The impact of focused education on diabetic foot care knowledge among adult type 2 diabetic patients: A hospital-based comparative study

Objectives: This study assessed the effect of focused education on diabetic foot care knowledge (DFCK) among adult type 2 diabetic patients. Materials and Methods: It is a randomized controlled study which involved 142 type 2 diabetic patients who met the inclusion criteria, whose DFCK were assessed using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Collected data were grouped and analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software version 22. The effect of focused education and general education on the two arms of the study was examined using the mixed analysis of variance, whereas changes in the mean score of the outcome variables were compared using paired t -test. Results: Participants who received focused education improved significantly when compared to the control group on foot-care knowledge ( t = 3.08, P = 0.003, effect size = 5.16). The pre-intervention mean standard deviation body mass index (kg/m 2 ) showed a statistically significant difference between the experimental and control group ( P = 0.005). Participants had statistically significant glucose control post-intervention ( P < 0.001), with statistically significant excellent DFCK in the experimental group compared to the control ( P < 0.001). Conclusion: Primary care physicians are encouraged to take the center-stage and adopt this cost-effective, easy, and efficient practice of ensuring that patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus are adequately educated on foot care as key component of diabetic care and health promotion aimed to prevent complications which most likely reduces their quality of life.