Self-care behaviors in older people with diabetes referred to Ahvaz Golestan Diabetes Clinic, 2012

Introduction: Aging is a critical period of life and elderly population is growing rapidly. Diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases in older people and involving people in treatment process who has central role in disease control. This study performed to assess self-care behaviors and related factors in elderly patients with diabetes.

Materials & Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed on 200 diabetic patients referred to Golestan Diabetes Clinic in Ahvaz, 2012, who were selected by convenience sampling. Information was collected and evaluated based on questionnaire Summary of diabetes self-care activities, with scores of 0-91 in both section, personal data and self-care behaviors.

Results: The study population included of 117 female (58.5%) and 83 men (41.5%), with a mean age of 63.676.5, respectively. 46% were illiterate, 69% married, 54.5% housewife and 20.5% were retired. Average of self-care score was 44.04. The blood sugar of 23% was not monitored. Exercise was perform two days a week in14.5%. Foot care was not taken in 9.5% of people. There was positive association between total scores of self-care and duration of disease, education and having previous training (p=0.001), but sex was not associated with total self-care scores (p=0.27).

Conclusion: The results of this study showed that self-care behaviors in the elderly diabetic patients in Ahvaz was poor and special attention to the educational needs of this patients and planning is necessary.

Keywords: Elderly; Type 2 Diabetes; Self-care Behaviors