Sociodemographic determinations of management behavior of diabetic patients attending a diabetic clinic in Alexandria. Part III: Relation between diabetics' sociodemographic background and health belief model variables.

The present work aims to study the relation between patient's health beliefs and psychological perception and demographic variables. The same subjects and methods applied in part I and II was adopted. It was found that a minority (1.7%) had a weak overall perceived susceptibility. However the rest were categorized as having either moderate (36.3%) or strong perception (62.0%). None of the diabetic patients was graded as having a weak overall perceived severity level. The remaining diabetics were graded as having either moderate (50.7%) or strong perception (49.3%). The majority (98.3%) had a strong perception and the rest had a moderate one. None of diabetic patients had weak overall internal cues to action towards their health. They had either moderate (59.7%) or strong cues (40.3%). Age of diabetic patients was linearly associated with the overall perceived severity level (X2 (MH) = 10.49). The younger the patients the more likely that they were classified as having a strong perception. Moreover, a significant linear association was observed between age and exposure to external cues to action (X2(MH) = 8.17), where the older the patients the more likely that they were exposed to external cues to action. It was observed that a significant relation was observed between gender and exposure to external cues to action (X2 = 4.60), where females were more likely to be exposed than males to external cues to action. A statistical significant linear association was observed between the education of diabetics and exposure to external cues to action (X2(MH) = 9.26). Diabetics without any educational certificates were more likely to be exposed to external cues to action. The present study provides data on the level of perception of diabetic patients in order to plan for a diabetic education programme.

Sociodemographic determinants of management behaviour of diabetic patients. Part I. Behaviour of patients in relation to management of their disease.

We studied 300 randomly chosen diabetic patients to assess their behaviours in relation to management of their disease. The majority had very good compliance with regular periodic check-ups (97.0%), urine and blood screening for sugar (94.3% and 96.0% respectively), adherence to the prescribed medicines (78.3%) and foot-care practices (75.0%). However, 35.3% and 39.0% had poor compliance with regard to checking their blood pressure and weight monitoring. Among smokers, 30.2% stopped smoking and 42.2% decreased the amount smoked after being diagnosed with the disease. Dietary compliance was either satisfactory or very good for most patients.

Sociodemographic determinants of management behaviour of diabetic patients. Part II. Diabetics' knowledge of the disease and their management behaviour.

We aimed to: describe the level of knowledge of diabetic patients about the disease, show the relationship between demographic variables (age, sex and education) and level of knowledge and reveal the relationship between knowledge and management-related behaviour of diabetics. We found that a majority of diabetic patients (90.0%) had poor knowledge about the disease, 83.7% had poor knowledge about the complications associated with diabetes and 96.3% had poor awareness of how to control the disease. The poor level of knowledge that diabetics have about their disease suggests that health care providers need to be trained in the areas of information, education and communication.

Sociodemographic determinants of management behaviour of diabetic patients. Part II. Diabetics' knowledge of the disease and their management behaviour

We aimed to: describe the level of knowledge of diabetic patients about the disease, show the relationship between demographic variables [age, sex and education] and level of knowledge and reveal the relationship between knowledge and management-related behaviour of diabetics. We found that a majority of diabetic patients [90.0%] had poor knowledge about the disease, 83.7% had poor knowledge about the complications associated with diabetes and 96.3% had poor awareness of how to control the disease. The poor level of knowledge that diabetics have about their disease suggests that health care providers need to be trained in the areas of information, education and communication

Sociodemographic determinants of management behaviour of diabetic patients. Part I. Behaviour of patients in relation to management of their disease

We studied 300 randomly chosen diabetic patients to assess their behaviours in relation to management of their disease. The majority had very good compliance with regular periodic check-ups [97.0%], urine and blood screening for sugar [94.3% and 96.0% respectively], adherence to the prescribed medicines [78.3%] and foot-care practices [75.0%]. However, 35.3% and 39.0% had poor compliance with regard to checking their blood pressure and weight monitoring. Among smokers, 30.2% stopped smoking and 42.2% decreased the amount smoked after being diagnosed with the disease. Dietary compliance was either satisfactory or very good for most patients