Original Research

Knowledge of type 2 diabetic patients about their condition in Kimpese Hospital diabetic clinic, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Patrick N. Ntontolo, Philippe N. Lukanu, Gboyega A. Ogunbanjo, Jean-Pierre L. Fina, Léon N.M. Kintaudi
African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine | Vol 9, No 1 | a1385 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/phcfm.v9i1.1385 | © 2017 Patrick N. Ntontolo, Philippe N. Lukanu, Gboyega A. Ogunbanjo, Jean-Pierre L. Fina, Léon N.M. Kintaudi | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 15 November 2016 | Published: 20 September 2017

About the author(s)

Patrick N. Ntontolo, Department of Family Medicine and Primary Health care, Protestant University of Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo; Institut Médical Evangélique (IME), Democratic Republic of the Congo
Philippe N. Lukanu, Department of Family Medicine and Primary Health care, Protestant University of Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Gboyega A. Ogunbanjo, Department of Family Medicine and Primary Health Care, Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University (SMU), South Africa
Jean-Pierre L. Fina, Department of Family Medicine, Protestant University of Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Léon N.M. Kintaudi, Department of Family Medicine and Primary Health care, Protestant University of Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Abstract

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a worldwide increasing health problem of which type 2 diabetes is the most prevalent. Previously considered as a problem of industrialised countries, diabetes is currently a huge concern in developing countries and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is one of the sub-Saharan countries with a high prevalence rate of diabetes. Deficit of knowledge has already been shown to be one of the barriers preventing diabetic patients from controlling their disease.
Objectives: This study aimed to assess the knowledge of type 2 diabetic patients seen at the Institut Médical Evangélique (IME) Kimpese Hospital diabetic clinic, DRC, and the factors associated with their knowledge.
Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 184 respondents was conducted at the diabetic clinic of the IME Kimpese Hospital, DRC. We administered a pre-tested questionnaire. Out of a total of 10, scores of < 5, 5 to < 7, and ≥ 7 were classified as ‘poor knowledge’, ‘moderate knowledge’ and ‘good knowledge’, respectively, according to expert consensus. All statistical tests were performed using p < 0.05 as the level of statistical significance.
Results: The mean age of respondents was 57.5 years (s.d. ± 1.4, ranging from 40 to 83 years), with 56% being male. The mean diabetes knowledge score was poor: 3.2 out of a total of 10 (s.d. ± 1.7), with the range between 0.2 and 7.7. The majority of respondents (72.3%) had poor general knowledge about diabetes mellitus. Respondents also scored poorly in areas of the causes (35.6%), risk factors (39.3%), clinical features (34.9%), complications (20.5%) and management (42.4%) of diabetes mellitus. Using the student t-test analysis, it was found that age (p = 0.001), gender (p = 0.002), educational level (p = 0.007) and duration of disease (p = 0.032) were significantly associated with poor knowledge of diabetes mellitus.
Conclusions: Knowledge of diabetes mellitus among type 2 diabetic patients seen at our setting was poor. Areas of deficiency and factors associated with knowledge of diabetes were identified. Our findings suggest the need for a health education intervention programme for our diabetic patients.

Keywords

knowledge; type 2 diabetes; diabetes mellitus; Kimpese,

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Crossref Citations

1. Type 2 diabetes in the Democratic Republic of Congo: an urgent need for a management framework
Jean-Pierre Fina Lubaki, Olufemi Babatunde Omole, Joel Msafiri Francis
Health Promotion International  vol: 38  issue: 6  year: 2023  
doi: 10.1093/heapro/daad139