Knowledge and Attitude of a Semi Urban Community in the South-South Region of Nigeria towards Diabetes Mellitus

Adequate knowledge of Diabetes Mellitus empowers the community about good health seeking behavior, drug compliance and follow up care. Studies on the knowledge and attitude of the community dwellers are therefore important. This study seeks to access the knowledge and attitude towards Diabetes Mellitus. A descriptive cross sectional study of 384 adults was carried out at Okada in Edo State. Questionnaire was used to collect information and analyzed with SPSS version 15. Descriptive statistics were done and presented as bar charts and tables. Attitude was scored using a Likert scale of 10 questions with maximum attainable mark of 50 points. Respondents with mean score and above were classified as having good attitude. Association between categorical variables were explored using chi square, Level of significance was set at 5%. The mean age of respondents was 34±11years, 206 (53.6%) were males and half of the respondents were married. In all, 243(63.5%) of the respondents had a good attitude towards diabetes treatment. Lack of health care facilities and attitude of health care providers were the commoner factor preventing respondents from seeking screening for Diabetes. A larger proportion 82.7% of respondents with tertiary education and 53.2% of those with primary education had good attitude towards Diabetes treatment. P = 0.003. The majority of the respondents have heard about Diabetes but only few of them had a good attitude towards the treatment of the disease. It is therefore important that awareness programs about diabetes should be provided in the community.