Assessment of self-care practises among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus attending urban health training centre of a tertiary health care institute in Central India: a cross-sectional study

Background: Diabetes is a chronic, metabolic disease characterized by elevated levels of blood glucose. The most common is type-2 diabetes. Self-care is multidimensional and includes healthy diet, daily exercises, blood glucose monitoring, foot care and avoidance of smoking which have to be practiced in order to achieve an optimal glycemic control and avoid complications. Hence this study was conducted to assess self-care practices among type-2 diabetes patients. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 100 known type 2 diabetes patients attending UHTC of a tertiary health care institute between January to April 2023 by interviewing them using structured-questionnaire assessing their self-care practices using summary of diabetes self-care activities (SDSCA) scale. Results: Mean age of diabetic patients among study subjects was 61.52±9.9 years. 68% of the participants have poor self-care practices. A healthy eating plan on a daily basis was followed by 59% of the participants, daily exercises for 30 min were followed by 59%, and regular blood sugar monitoring was done by 80%. Regarding adherence to medications, 95% participants took recommended medicines on daily basis. Conclusions: Self-care practices among diabetic patients were poor among 68% patients and there is a need for improving them across all assessed domains.