Perceived impact of family and social support on health and wellbeing of patients with chronic kidney disease and diabetes mellitus

Abstract Background Family and social support play crucial role in management of patients with chronic diseases. Little is known about the perceptions of the impact of support on the health and well-being of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and diabetes mellitus (DM). This study is aimed to evaluate the perceived impact of family and social support on health and well-being of patients with CKD and DM in a Nigerian tertiary hospital. Methods A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among randomly selected patients with CKD, DM or both in a tertiary hospital in South-eastern Nigeria. A self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square test. The level of significance was set as P < 0.05. Results A total of 219 patients participated in the study. More than half of the respondents ( n = 125, 57.1%) were female while the most frequently reported source of support was family members (90.4%). About 59.4% of patients have a positive perception of the support they receive. Regression analysis showed that age, sex, marital status, level of education, occupation, religion, income, health insurance, and medical condition were not significantly associated with perceived impact of family and social support on health and wellbeing. Conclusion Findings suggest that family and social support were perceived positively among patients with CKD and DM. Implementing universal, family and community-based support for interventions for CKD and DM patients, rather than targeting specific demographic groups would likely enhance their overall health and wellbeing.