Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013;8(1):e52857.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0052857. Epub 2013 Jan 14.

Knowledge, attitude and practices of diabetic patients in the United Arab Emirates

Fatma Al-Maskari  1 , Mohamed El-Sadig, Juma M Al-Kaabi, Bachar Afandi, Nicolas Nagelkerke, Karin B Yeatts
Affiliations

Knowledge, attitude and practices of diabetic patients in the United Arab Emirates

Fatma Al-Maskari et al. PLoS One. 2013.

Abstract

Introduction: Diabetes self-management education is a cornerstone of diabetes care. However, many diabetics in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) lack sufficient knowledge about their disease due to illiteracy. Thus, before considering any possible intervention it was imperative to assess present knowledge, attitudes, and practices of patients towards the management of diabetes.

Methods: A random sample of 575 DM patients was selected from diabetes outpatient's clinics of Tawam and Al-Ain hospitals in Al-Ain city (UAE) during 2006-2007, and their knowledge attitude and practice assessed using a questionnaire modified from the Michigan Diabetes Research Training Center instrument.

Results: Thirty-one percent of patients had poor knowledge of diabetes. Seventy-two had negative attitudes towards having the disease and 57% had HbA(1c) levels reflecting poor glycemic control. Only seventeen percent reported having adequate blood sugar control, while 10% admitted non-compliance with their medications. Knowledge, practice and attitude scores were all statistically significantly positively, but rather weakly, associated, but none of these scores was significantly correlated with HbA(1c).

Conclusions: The study showed low levels of diabetes awareness but positive attitudes towards the importance of DM care and satisfactory diabetes practices in the UAE. Programs to increase patients' awareness about DM are essential for all diabetics in the UAE in order to improve their understanding, compliance and management and, thereby, their ability to cope with the disease.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Diabetes General Knowledge (n = 575).
Figure 2
Figure 2. Knowledge of Diabetes Symptoms and Complications(n = 575).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. McPherson ML, Smith SW, Powers A, Zuckerman IH (2008) Association between diabetes patients' knowledge about medications and their blood glucose control. Res Social Adm Pharm Mar; 4 (1) 37–45. - PubMed
    1. Norris SL, Engelgau MM, Narayan KM (2001) Effectiveness of self-management training in type 2 diabetes: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Diabetes Care 24: 561–87. - PubMed
    1. Duke SA, Colagiuri S, Colagiuri R (2009) Individual patient education for people with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Cochrane Database Syst Rev Jan 21 (1) CD005268. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ben Abdelaziz A, Thabet H, Soltane I, Gaha K, Gaha R, et al. (2007) Knowledge of patients with type 2 diabetes about their condition in Sousse, Tunisia. East Mediterr Health J May–Jun; 13 (3) 505–14. - PubMed
    1. Kamel NM, Badawy YA, el-Zeiny NA, Merdan IA (1999) Sociodemographic determinants of management behavior of diabetic patients Part 2. Diabetics' knowledge of the disease and their management behavior. EMHJ 5: 5, 974–983. - PubMed

Publication types