Exposure to mass media, health teaching and educational materials on diabetes: It’s relation to knowledge, attitude and practices of diabetics on diet, exercise and medication requirement

Abstract

This investigation was undertaken to determine the level of exposure of the diabetics to mass media, health teaching and educational materials on diabetes; their knowledge level on prevention and control of diabetes, their attitude towards diabetes (diet, exercise and medication requirements), their practices in terms of diet, exercise and medication requirements and to find out whether exposure to mass media, health teaching and educational materials increase their level of knowledge and modify their attitude and practices on the prevention and control of diabetes. The respondents of the study were 274 diabetics. There were 223 clients enrolled in Diabetes Resource Center at Barangay Rumbang, Pototan, Iloilo and 51 clients at Iloilo Mission Hospital Diabetic Clinic, Iloilo City. A self-administered instrument was used to gather data from the respondents who were interviewed personally by the researchers. The data gathered were subjected to both descriptive and inferential statistics using the SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) computer software Versionl2. The results of the inferential statistics were interpreted at the alpha level of 0.05. The study revealed that most of the respondents aged 56 years old and older, were female, married, and reached high school level of education. Level of exposure to educational materials ranged from 6.2-55.1 percent of the respondents, to health teachings, 96.0-98.5 percent, while for mass media, 0.7-12.0 percent. Most of the respondents had moderate level of exposure to mass media, health teaching, and educational materials. Most of the respondents had high knowledge on diet, exercise, and medication on diabetes. Most of the respondents had favorable attitude on diet, exercise, and medication on diabetes. Majority of the respondents had good practices on diet, exercise and medication on diabetes. Age, sex, civil status, and educational attainment were not significantly related to level of exposure to mass media, health teaching and educational materials. Level of exposure to mass media, health teaching and educational materials were not significantly related to level of knowledge in terms of diet, exercise and medication. Level of exposure to mass media, health teaching and educational materials were not significantly related to attitude towards diet and medication however it is significantly related to attitude towards exercise with the higher the level of exposure the better was the attitude towards exercise. Level of knowledge was significantly related to attitude; the higher the level of knowledge, the better the attitude. Attitude was significantly related to practices with the better the attitude, the better were the practices. Level of knowledge was significantly related to practices; the higher the level of knowledge, the better the practices. Attitude was not significantly related to the respondents’ age, sex, civil status, and educational attainment. The level of exposure to mass media, health teaching, and educational materials were not significantly related to practices in terms of diet, exercise, and medication. Level of knowledge was not significantly related to the respondents’ age, sex, civil status, and educational attainment. Practices of the diabetics were not significantly related to the respondents’ age, sex, civil status, and educational attainment. Level of exposure, controlling for knowledge, was not significantly related to practices of diabetics. Level of knowledge, controlling for attitude, was significantly related to practices with higher level of knowledge resulting to better practices. Level of exposure, controlling for attitude, was not significantly related to practices of the diabetics.