Abstract
IntroductionHealthcare-seeking behaviour among persons with diabetes has been investigated to a limited extent, and not from professionals’ perspective. The aim of the study was to describe healthcare professionals’ knowledge, attitudes and practice concerning healthcare-seeking behaviour and the use of complementary and alternative medicine among persons with diabetes.MethodsA cross-sectional, self-administered questionnaire was conducted in western Uganda. Nurses, midwives or nurse assistants 72.2%, physicians 12% and clinical officers 10% volunteered to participate in the study with a total 108 (93% response rate) response rate. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse data with frequencies, percentages and summarized in tables.ResultsMost of the healthcare providers perceived more uneducated people to be at risk of developing complications related to diabetes (66.7%) and that most of the patients with diabetes were not knowledgeable about signs and symptoms of diabetes before being diagnosed (75.9%). The main reasons inducing persons with diabetes to seek care outside the health care sector were reported to be seeking a cure for the condition, influence from the popular sector, the accessibility of the place and signs of complications of diabetes related to poor glycaemic control. Healthcare providers had relatively positive attitudes towards using complementary and alternative medicine.ConclusionInsufficient knowledge about diabetes, compromised healthcare-seeking practices including drug procurement for diabetes seem to be barriers to diabetes management. Patients were thus reported to be burdened with co-morbidities of complications of diabetes related to poor glycaemic control.
Highlights
Healthcare-seeking behaviour among persons with diabetes has been investigated to a limited extent, and not from professionals’ perspective
About two thirds stated that the time used for patient consultations for a physician or clinical officer was less than 30 minutes, and more than a half of the respondents did not recommend complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies to the patients with diabetes
Despite switching between different healthcare providers for patients with diabetes, several comorbidities still reported by more than three quarters of healthcare providers were signs or complications of diabetes related to poor glycaemic control
Summary
Healthcare-seeking behaviour among persons with diabetes has been investigated to a limited extent, and not from professionals’ perspective. The aim of the study was to describe healthcare professionals’ knowledge, attitudes and practice concerning healthcare-seeking behaviour and the use of complementary and alternative medicine among persons with diabetes. The main reasons inducing persons with diabetes to seek care outside the health care sector were reported to be seeking a cure for the condition, influence from the popular sector, the accessibility of the place and signs of complications of diabetes related to poor glycaemic control. While medical management is known for diagnosis and glycaemic control in diabetes care [5], health professionals’ knowledge is lacking about healthcare-seeking practices and attitudes to the use of complementary alternative medicine to manage diabetes. Healthcare-seeking behaviour with a switch between different healthcare providers under the influence of the popular and folk sector has been reported from the perspectives of the persons with diabetes [1, 2] and traditional healers [3]. Perceived failure of the effect of treatment of diabetes from the professional sector and self-care deficit with persisting symptoms related to diabetes were the main reasons [1,2,3]
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