Assessment of awareness and practice of foot care and physical activity among people with type 2 diabetes attending a tertiary care teaching hospital

Background: Diabetes Mellitus is one of the leading non communicable diseases in India. Associated complications are also on rise. Knowing about self-care becomes important to prevent these complications in them. This study was done to determine the level of awareness and practice of foot care among type 2 diabetes patients attending a tertiary care center.Methods: A cross sectional descriptive study done by interviewing 106 diabetic patients attending a teaching hospital in Kolar, using pretested questionnaire.Results: In the present study the mean (SD) of awareness and practice of foot care were 5.33 (3.09) and 6.54 (2.94) respectively. Low mean scores were significantly associated (p<0.05) with lack of formal education and not receiving advice on foot care by doctors. Only 51.9% of them were educated regarding foot care while 77% of the subjects were advised to do physical activity. Only 8.5% of them had good knowledge, 35.8% had satisfactory level and more than 50% of them had poor or very poor knowledge regarding foot care. On the other hand about 15.1% of the study participants’ foot care practice was good, 36.8% were satisfactory and 48.1% were poor or very poor in foot care practice. A strong positive correlation (r=0.85) was observed between level of awareness and practice of foot care which was statistically significant (p<0.001).Conclusions: Low mean scores of awareness and practice suggests that there is a need for focused educational intervention on foot care to all diabetic patients in order to prevent foot complications in them.