Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of Foot Care in Patient Living with Diabetic Mellitus at Saint Francis Referral Hospital: a Cros-Sectional Study 2024

Introduction: Globally, about 425 million individuals are suffering from diabetes mellitus. In African countries about 24 million adults have diabetes mellitus which is equal to 4.5%. In Tanzania, the prevalence increases with age. This study was done at Saint Francis Referral aiming to assess knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of diabetic foot care in outpatient. Methodology: The prospective cross-sectional study was conducted for 3moths at Saint Francis Referral Hospital aiming to assess Diabetic foot care (DFC) in patients living with DM in limited resourced areas in Tanzania. Results: total 111 diabetic patients were recruited to participate in this study. There was 54.95% female ad 45.05% male making F:M 1.2:1. The 40-49 age range was the most predominancy 33.3%. Very few of the participants had positive attitude 8.11% and only 7.21% strongly positive attitude on the effectiveness of DFC. Only 36.94% of the participants had moderate DFC practice. Conclusion: The study shows that there is poor attitude and practice of DFC among the people living with DM, hence, the need for social intervention towards negative attitude on the specific matter among the community. There is also a need of specialized Diabetic foot physician for DFC practice follow up in every clinic in order to reduce DFU prevalence in people living with DM particularly in limited resources including Tanzania.