Avaliação do conhecimento e adesão às atividades de autocuidado em pessoas com Diabetes mellitus

Abstract

This research aimed to evaluate the knowledge and adhering of people with type 2 diabetes mellitus in self-care activities. This is an analytical, cross-sectional study of a quantitative approach carried out in health units in the city of São Luís/MA, with sample consisting of 270 people with diabetes. Data collection occurred from December 2019 to October 2020, with a Sociodemographic and Clinical Data Form, the Diabetes Knowledge Scale Questionnaire (DKN-A) and the Diabetes Self-Care Activities Questionnaire (QAD) were used. For the presentation of the results, descriptive analysis was used for the characterization of the sample, Chi-square test or Fisher's Exact for qualitative variables related to general knowledge about the disease, Shapiro Wilk test to evaluate the normal distribution in the scores of self-care activities and the nonparametric tests of Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis, adopting a significance level of 5%. The results showed that 51% of respondents had unsatisfactory knowledge about diabetes, especially in matters related to the general principles of disease care, hypoglycemia and dietary replacements. There was a significant relationship between knowledge and age group (p=0,015), schooling (p=0,000), occupation (p=0,001) and participation in an educational group in diabetes (p=0,010). Regarding self-care activities with diabetes, it was observed that the people interviewed did not satisfactorily agree mainly to the practice of physical activity, monitoring of blood glucose and general feeding. The significant relationship of the treatment of self-care activities with knowledge about the disease was evidenced only in the item about the intake of five or more portions of fruits and/or vegetables (p=0,002) of the specific diet and in the relationship with the sociodemographic and clinical variables, there were more frequent and statistically significant results in the association with age group, schooling, occupation, body mass index, complication of diabetes, nutritional and medical follow-up. It was concluded that the level of general knowledge about the disease was unsatisfactory, with less desirable support the main self-care activities recommended for diabetes control, thus pointing to the importance of health education actions at the individual and collective level for the construction and strengthening of knowledge and autonomy regarding the adhering to health care for people with diabetes, highlighting the fundamental role of health professionals, specially nurses, in this educational context so essential for disease control, prevention of complications and suitable treatment of diabetes mellitus.