WORLD JOURNAL OF ADVANCE
HEALTHCARE RESEARCH

Mais Mohammed Saleh* and Ban Abdul-Ridha Al-Hashimi

ABSTRACT

Background of the study: Diabetic foot represents a serious complication and results in a significant burden on the health of the community and the healthcare system. Moreover, diabetic foot ulcer is a highly recurrent problem, once it occurs, even if treated properly. But fortunately, the majority of problems for diabetic foot can be prevented by relatively easier and lower-cost measures through proper patient education, early identification by healthcare practitioners, and appropriate care measures by a multidisciplinary team. Aim of the study: To assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice about diabetic foot care among Diabetic patient, and to determine the association between socio-demographic data with their knowledge, attitude, and practices. Patients & Methods: A cross-sectional study used a pre-structured questionnaire adopted from a previous literature. Using convenient sampling, 319 participants were recruited from the diabetic patients visiting a tertiary endocrine clinic in Baghdad hospital /medical city, from the 1st of February 2024 to the 30 May 2024. The data collected using a questionnaire which consist of 4 parts, the first part about sociodemographic information, the second part measure patient knowledge, the third part about attitude about diabetic foot care and the last part was about foot care practice. The study included type 1 and 2 diabetic patients diagnosed for at least one year, excluding those with gestational diabetes, active or past diabetic foot ulcers, non- diabetic foot issues, late-stage complications, or those on chemotherapy/immunosuppressants. Results: In this study the result showed that in 208 (65.2%) was fair level of knowledge, 56 (17.6%) were poor knowledge & 55(17.2%) had good knowledge, regarding attitude score 148 (64.4%) were neutral attitude, 67(21%) had negative attitude and 104(32.6%) with positive attitude. Regarding practice score, 219 (68.7%) had a fair level of practice, 55(17.2%) had poor practice, and 45 (14.1%) had good practice. A Positive significant association was found only between educational level and both attitude and practice level. Conclusions: Two thirds of the patients had fair knowledge level about diabetic foot care, regarding attitude part of the study near half of participants were neutral attitude, two third of the participants had fair practice, more than half of the participants, their source of information about diabetic foot was from their family and friends and only one third was from medical staff, there was a significant association between educational level and the fair practice level and also educational level associated with positive attitude level toward diabetic foot.