Quality of Foot Care Among Patients With Diabetes: A Study Using a Polish Version of the Diabetes Foot Disease and Foot Care Questionnaire

Abstract

Diabetic foot syndrome is a common, yet serious complication of diabetes, affecting 4% to 10% of patients with diabetes. Polish Diabetes Association guidelines emphasize the need for prevention among patients with diabetes; a key role is played by consistent education on foot care and ulceration prevention. The Diabetes Foot Disease and Foot Care Questionnaire (DFDFC-Q) is the only research instrument available for comprehensive assessment of foot self-care. The study purposes were to explore the quality of foot care among patients with diabetes and to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Polish version of the DFDFC-Q in adult patients with diabetes. The study included 180 patients (112 females and 68 males, mean age 62 ± 14.1 years) with clinically confirmed diabetes mellitus and was performed between January 2017 and May 2018. The questionnaire was translated into Polis, and evaluated by using Cronbach's α coefficient. Of the 180 patients, 39.7% demonstrated good quality of self-care, 44.7% demonstrated moderate quality, and 15.6% demonstrated low quality. Mean score in the group was 22 ± 4.18 points. Scale reliability as measured by Cronbach's α was 0.672. One hundred thirteen (62.78%) patients inspected their feet daily. Many patients wore improper footwear: flip-flops (69.44%) or sandals (58.89%). The aspect most commonly omitted in diabetes education was inspection of the soles of one's feet using a mirror (17.7%). We found that 16.1% of patients visited a podologist in the past year. Comparative analysis demonstrated that a good-quality foot self-care was associated with high school education (p = .008), not having a partner (p = .046), and adhering to dietary recommendations (p = .014). In the linear regression model, independent predictors of better foot self-care included high school and vocational education (β = 7.439, p = .001 and β = 5.539, p = .014, respectively), marital status (divorced and single: β = 3.496, p = .025, widowed: β = 3.466, p = .048), professional inactivity (retirees: β = 7.679, p = .001; disability pensioners: β = 3.522, p = .049; unemployed: β = 4.631, p = .017), and adhering to a diet (β = 5.065, p = .001). An independent negative predictor (i.e., one associated with lower scores in the questionnaire) was male sex (β = -2.853, p = .024). The Polish version of the DFDFC-Q has moderate psychometric properties, but because of the lack of other available instruments for foot self-care assessment, it can be used in the population of Polish diabetic patients. Better quality of foot self-care is determined by high school education, marital status (not having a partner), and adhering to dietary treatment recommendations.