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
. 2022 Jul 7;17(7):e0270161.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0270161. eCollection 2022.

Diabetic health literacy and associated factors among diabetes mellitus patients on follow up at public hospitals, Bale Zone, South East Ethiopia, 2021

Hailye Mamo Mogessie  1 , Mulugeta Adugnew Gebeyehu  1 , Mitaw Girma Kenbaw  2 , Tesfaye Assefa Tadesse  1
Affiliations

Diabetic health literacy and associated factors among diabetes mellitus patients on follow up at public hospitals, Bale Zone, South East Ethiopia, 2021

Hailye Mamo Mogessie et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Objective: This study was aimed to assess diabetic health literacy and associated factors among adult diabetic patients in public hospitals, Bale Zone, Southeast Ethiopia.

Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 402 diabetic patients in three public hospitals and the samples were selected using simple random sampling technique. The comprehensive functional, communicative, and critical health literacy questionnaire was used to measure diabetic health literacy. Descriptive statistics and Ordinary logistic regression analyses were conducted, and a P-value of < 0.05 was considered to declare a result as statistically significant.

Result: A total of 402 diabetic patients were involved in the study. Of all respondents, 41.8%, 27.9%, and 30.3% had low, moderate, and high diabetic health literacy respectively. Educational status; can't read and write (AOR = 0.085;95% CI: 0.03,0.26), can read and write (AOR = 0.10; 95% CI: 0.04,0.30), primary school (AOR = 0.25; 95% CI: 0.09,0.67), secondary school (AOR = 0.37; 95% CI: 0.14,0.99), duration of onset ≤5 years (AOR = 2.05; 95% CI:1.09,4.19), being not member of DM association (AOR = 0.43; 95% CI: 0.26,0.73), having ≤ 3 diabetes mellitus information sources (AOR = 0.15; 95% CI: 0.03,0.77), social support; poor (AOR = 0.40;95% CI: 0.21,0.79), and moderate (AOR = 0.50; 95% CI: 0.28,0.92) were significantly associated with diabetic health literacy.

Conclusion: A substantial number of diabetic patients had low diabetic health literacy. Educational status, Sources of diabetic information, Member of DM association, and social support were significantly and positively associated with diabetic health literacy. But, duration of diabetes onset was negatively associated with diabetic health literacy of respondents. So, we recommend providing readable and picturized printed materials, and diabetic patient education to be considered.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Schematic presentation of sampling technique used to select the study subjects from public hospitals in Bale Zone, South East Ethiopia, 2021.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Magnitude of diabetic health literacy of diabetic patients at the outpatient clinic of public hospitals, Bale Zone, 2021(n = 402).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. WHO, World Health Organization Global report on diabetes. World Health Organization 2016. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/204871.
    1. Singh S.G. and Aiken J., The effect of health literacy level on health outcomes in patients with diabetes at a type v health centre in Western Jamaica. International Journal of Nursing Sciences, 2017. 4: p. 266–270. doi: 10.1016/j.ijnss.2017.06.004 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. IDF, International Diabetes Federation. IDF Diabetes Atlas, 9th edn. Brussels, Belgium:., 2019. https://www.diabetesatlas.org.
    1. Mukanoheli V., et al.., Functional Health Literacy and Self-Care Behaviors Among Type 2 Diabetic Patients at a University Teaching Hospital in Kigali. Rwanda Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences, 2020. 3(1): p. 49–59.
    1. Kinfe G., et al.., Diabetes in Ethiopia: A systematic review of prevalence, risk factors, complications, and cost. Obesity Medicine 2019. 15(100132).