FOOT SELF-CARE PADA PENYANDANG DIABETES MELLITUS (DM): PILOT STUDY DI SEMARANG

Abstract

Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a chronic metabolic disease that has the characteristic of hyperglycemia as a result of insulin insufficiency. It lead to common lower extremity complication, called diabetic foot ulcers (DFU). This complication should be prevented by performing an adequate foot self-care. Unfortunately, patients' with DM awareness on foot self-care are still need to be improved. This study aimed to identify how foot self-care were applied in patients with DM. This was a cross-sectional study using Diabetic Foot Self-care Questionnaire University of Malaga that was distributed to respondents. Respondents met the inclusion criteria was consecutively recruited to the study. Data was univariately analyzed then resulted frequency and percentage distribution. A number of 112 patients with DM had participated in this study. Respondents who participated in this study were age 41-60 years (69,6%), female (78,6%), no education in foot self-care (50%), and suffering from DM for less than 10 years (80,4%). It is showed that 52.7% of patients with DM have adequate foot self-care. This category was grouped based on 3 aspects entitled personal self-care, podiatric care, also footwear and socks. Each of these aspects include several activities as a part of foot self-care. In conclusion, more patients with DM are categorized as appropriate foot self-care than inappropriate foot self-care. Therefore, it is needed to give more information to patients with diabetes in order to apply proper foot self-care especially the examination of the feet, using lotion, socks, and the way to get the feet warm.