Abstract
Diabetic Foot Care Behaviors (DFCB) is the fundamental component of diabetic foot complications prevention. Many diabetic patients, however, did no t perform foot care properly. Furthermore, SelfManagement (SM) support program was noted as effective approach improving diabetes patients’ behaviors. Unfortunately, there have been no studie s published applied this approach to improve DFCB i n Indonesia. This study aimed to determine the effect iveness of a self-management support program in improving DFCB in patients with diabetes mellitus i n West Java, Indonesia. Quasi-experimental study was conducted with seventy subjects who randomly assigned either to an experimental (n = 35) or a control group (n = 35). The subjects in the experim ental group received a five-week diabetic foot care SM support program. The subjects in the control gro up received standard care. Their DFCB was evaluated in the fifth week of intervention using a DFCB Questionnaire. The results showed that the DFCB in the experimental group was significantly hi gher (M = 67.43, SD = 5.83) than that in the contro l group (M = 52.60, SD = 8.6) (p<0.001). The result i ndicates that a five-week SM program effectively enhanced DFCB. Thus, nurses are recommended to apply this program in improving DFCB in order to prevent diabetic foot ulcers or other foot complica tions.
Highlights
Effective long term treatment of Diabetic Foot Ulcers (DFU) is difficult, costly and time consuming and since ulcers often reoccur even after
The results showed that the Diabetic Foot Care Behaviors (DFCB) in the experimental group was significantly higher (M = 67.43, Standard Deviations (SD) = 5.83) than that in the control group (M = 52.60, SD = 8.6) (p
The SM support program was developed based on the self-management method proposed by Kanfer and Goldstein (1991) and the diabetic foot care standards promoted by the Indian Health Diabetes Best Practice Foot Care (IHSDDTP, 2009) program and the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO, 2005)
Summary
Effective long term treatment of DFU is difficult, costly and time consuming and since ulcers often reoccur even after. One of the most disabling complications of DM is Diabetic Foot Ulcers (DFU) which affect 15-25% of diabetic patients and may lead to gangrene, infection and/or foot amputation (Singh et al, 2005). These complications can lead to severe adverse effects including a high financial burden, physical disability, depression, low quality of life and high mortality (Abdelgadir et al, 2008; Stockl et al, 2004). Performing daily foot care routines enables diabetic patients to detect foot abnormalities and injuries earlier and as a result to reduce or even prevent the risk of foot ulceration effectively (Calle-Pascual et al, 2001; Hokkam, 2009).
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