Activation levels among adult patients newly diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in selected level five hospitals, Kenya

Abstract

Background: Globally, prevalence of diabetes related complications has been on the rise and linked to poor skills and knowledge on the recommended self-care practices.

Objective: To establish activation levels among adult patients newly diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM).

Method: Descriptive cross-sectional design was utilized to collect data from 124 randomly selected patients who were newly diagnosed with T2DM in the selected health care facilities. Data was collected using a closed ended questionnaire and the Patient Activation Measure® then analyzed using SPSS version 26. Descriptive analysis was done to generate frequencies while chi-square was done to assess association between the independent and dependent variables using a confidence interval of 95%.

Results: Females were the majority 70 (56.5%) with most participants 35 (28.3%) being between 60-69 years. Regarding duration of T2DM since diagnosis majority 45 (36.3%) reported four months. Only 45 (36.3%) had normal Body Mass Index (BMI) while 42 (33.9%) were obese. Low patient activation levels were noted in 88 (71.0%) of the study participants. The mean (SD) for the patient activation levels was 53.28 (±7.27) corresponding to activation level 2. Variables found to have a statistically significant association were religion (p=0.024) and clinical duration of T2DM (P=0.031).

Conclusion: Activation levels were found to be low indicating low levels of confidence, knowledge and skills among adult patients newly diagnosed with T2DM. Therefore, clinicians need to adopt evidence-based strategies aimed at empowering newly diagnosed patients so as to activate them in adjusting their self-care practices.