Knowledge, Attitude, Practice and associated factors towards Self-Insulin Administration among Diabetic Patients in Hawassa Referral Hospital, Southern Ethiopia

Diabetes Mellitus which is a heterogeneous clinical syndrome secondary to defects in insulin secretions recognized as one of the leading causes of death and disability worldwide. Knowledge about Diabetes Mellitus is a prerequisite for individuals and communities to take action for control the diabetes, but there is inadequate knowledge and poor practice level on insulin self-administration among Diabetes Mellitus patients. To assess the knowledge, Attitude and practice of self-insulin administration and associated factors among diabetic patient in Hawassa referral hospital. Institutional based descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 180 diabetic patients by systematic random sampling technique, in Hawassa referral hospital. Structured and pre tested questionnaire was used to collect the data. The collected data was processed and analyzed using manual and computer software. Chi square test was done between two variables and P-value less than 0.05 were taken as statistically significant. A total of 180 people were included in the study of which the majority 107(59%) were men and in the age group of 35-44 years (23.9%).One hundred twenty-seven (70.6%) of the participant were married followed by single 40(22.2%).As to their occupation government employee accounts (25%) and above half (52.8%) of the respondents gets >1200 birr per month. One hundred twenty eight (71.1%) participants had favorable attitude. Literacy and marital status were significantly associated with good knowledge with p-value of 0.001, 0.011 and x2= 10.401, 6.467 respectively. The current study was identified the gap in knowledge regarding diabetes. The gap might be due to high illiteracy rate of the study participants, less devoted time by physicians to the patients, and less participation of media and Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in awareness creation about diabetes in our setting.