ABSTRACT
Objective: The study was aimed at assessing the self-care practices and the associated socio-demographic variables of persons with T2DM in South East, Nigeria. Methodology: A cross-sectional study involving 382 persons with T2DM proportionately selected from 4 tertiary health institutions in South Eastern, Nigeria. Data was collected using the Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities (SDSCA) and a researcher-developed questionnaire. The questionnaire was administered to persons with T2DM who attended a diabetic outpatient clinic. Data collected was analyzed in frequency percentage. Responses on SDSCA were ranked and rated as poor, moderate, and good self-care behavior. The level of significance was placed at P < .05. Result: The majority of the participants were within the age groups of 40 to 59 (46.9%) and 60 and above (46.9%); the majority (74.6%) were married while a good proportion were traders (59.7%). Also, the majority of participants (81.2%) were on oral hypoglycemic agents. Findings further showed that a good proportion (51.3% and 89.8%) of study participants had good self-care behavior in diet and medication domains respectively. Whereas the proportion of participants with poor self-care behavior was very high in foot care (75.1%) and fairly high in both self-blood sugar testing (37.7%) and exercise (37.2%) domains. Only 7.9% practiced 3-monthly laboratory blood glucose testing while 16.5% went for eye checks every 6 months. Conclusion: Individuals with diabetes mellitus have poor self-management behavior in most domains of the self-management practice. Age, gender, marital status, educational level, and occupation significantly influenced self-management practices. Hence nurses and health educators should take diabetes self-management education very seriously to help diabetes sufferers improve their self-management behavior.
ABSTRACT
Consumption of fruits and vegetables is correlated with improved mental wellbeing. Although this growing body of research has been recognized by researchers and clinicians in high-income countries, fewer studies examining this relationship have been conducted in low- and middle-income settings. In this study, we sought to estimate the association between fruit and vegetable intake and symptoms of depression and anxiety. We conducted a cross-sectional study among 242 family caregivers of people with dementia in southwestern Uganda. Fruit and vegetable intake in the past week was measured with a food frequency questionnaire. Depression and anxiety were assessed using the depression and anxiety subscales of the 42-item Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales. Multivariable regression models were used to estimate the associations between fruits and vegetable consumption and depression and anxiety, adjusting for caregiving burden and other potential confounders. Depression symptom severity was negatively associated with consumption of jackfruits (b =-4.68; 95% confidence interval [CI], -8.96 to -0.39), green leafy vegetables (b =-14.1; 95% CI, -18.0 to -10.1), root vegetables (b =-14.0; 95% CI, -19.5 to -8.63), and other vegetables (b =-14.8; 95% CI, -19.3 to -10.3), and frequent consumption of vegetables (b =-1.91; 95% CI, -3.77 to -0.04). Anxiety symptom severity was negatively associated with consumption of green leafy vegetables (b =-12.2; 95% CI, -16.0 to -8.46), root vegetables (b=-12.6; 95% CI, -17.5 to -7.58), and other vegetables (b =-12.7; 95% CI, -17.0 to -8.40), and frequent consumption of vegetables (b =-2.07; 95% CI, -3.84 to -0.29). Our results suggest that fruit and vegetable consumption is associated with reduced depression and anxiety symptoms.
