Factors Influencing Diabetic Diet Knowledge Among Diabetic Patients Attending Primary Health Care Centers in Central Sector in Jazan Region, Saudi Arabia.1438H

Background: Diabetes is a major worldwide health problem, that needs to comprehensive medical care and patient self-management, education and support. Objectives: The aim of this study was to study the factors influencing the diabetic diet knowledge among diabetic patients attending Primary Health Care Centers in Central Sector in Jazan Region, Saudi Arabia. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study carried out primary health care centers in central sector in Jazan region including 400 diabetic patients. The validated self-administered questionnaire was distributed for the patients. Data was collected and coded, then analyzed and tabulated using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS version 20). Descriptive statistics was applied in the form of frequencies and percentages for categorical variables and mean with standard deviation (SD) for normally distributed continuous variables. The chi-squared test was used to compare categorical data and Group t-test was conducted to assess the significance of differences for continuous variables. P ≤ 0.05 was used as indictors of statistically significant differences. Results: The present study included 216 (54%) males and 184 (46%) females with a total number of 400 diabetics. The majority of diabetic patients had poor dietary knowledge as shown by the low percentage of correct answers for most questions. More than half of patients gave wrong answers for foods that should be used with hypoglycemia (50.5%), suitable time to drink juice (50.5%), symptoms of hypoglycemia (57.2%), and drinks permitted with unlimited amounts )65.5%). Also, More than half of patients gave Incomplete answer for recommended type of snacks (78.5%), role of snacks in diabetic diet) 70%) and Foods rich in fat )58.5%). The results show that patients’ educational leveland income were the only significant predictors of the dietary knowledge. Also, the participants dietary knowledge score (p-value= 0.000) and the educational level of diabetes (p-value= 0.006) were the factors most influencing attitudes (beliefs). Conclusion: The results conclude that, the majority of diabetic had poor dietary knowledge, and patients’ educational level and income were the only significant predictors of the dietary knowledge which justify the need for an educational program to improve the knowledge of diabetic diet.