Assessment of Diabetic Patients in a Tertiary Hospital on Knowledge, Practice of and Attitude to Lifestyle Modifications

Objective: To assessed the types 2 diabetic patient’s knowledge, the practice of, and attitude to lifestyle modification at University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study of types- 2 diabetic patients at the Medical outpatient clinic in UCH was done with a validated structured 48 item self-administered questionnaire that measured the socio-demographics, knowledge, practice of and attitude to lifestyle modifications. A purposive sampling of 99 consenting patients out of 103 determined with Yaro Tamane formulae was done. Data were entered into SPSS v. 21 for descriptive and inferential analysis. Results: About 59.6% of respondents were within ≥60 years age range, and 68.7% of them were females. Many (51.5%) of them had tertiary education qualifications. On knowledge of symptoms, the majority 78 (78.8%) had good knowledge and 21(21.2%) had poor knowledge of diabetes mellitus. While 64 (64.6%) respondents had a good attitude and 35(35.4%) had a poor attitude towards lifestyle modification. Besides, a vast majority (94.9%) reported that lifestyle modification helps attain normal blood glucose levels, preserves life, assuage symptoms, and avert extended complications. The respondents tend to strongly agree to have a good practice of lifestyle modification with a weighted mean of 3.76 to 4.69 on a 5point scale. Conclusion: The majority of the respondents had good knowledge, the practice of and attitude to lifestyle modification which can help patients in altering long-term habits, eating or physical activity, and maintaining these practices as part of the management of the disorder.