RESEARCH ARTICLE


Baseline Assessment of Knowledge of Home Based Carers for People with Diabetes in a Rural Village in South Africa: A Quantitative Study



Mamare Bopape1, *, Tebogo Mothiba1, Miriam Mutambudzi2, Johan Wens2, Hilde Bastiaens2
1 School of Health Care Sciences, Department of Nursing Science, University of Limpopo, South Africa
2 Department of Primary and Interdisciplinary Care, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences University of Antwerp; Belgium


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Creative Commons License
© 2019 Bopape et al.

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Nursing Science, University of Limpopo, Private Bag X1106 Sovenga 0727, South Africa; Tel: 015-268-2387; Fax: 015-267-3080 E-mail: mamare.bopape@ul.ac.za


Abstract

Background:

In South Africa, Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) is a significant health problem causing disability and premature death. Home Based Carers (HBCs) who care for T2DM patients in a rural village in South Africa lack formal training, which may result in knowledge deficits on the provision of care.

Objective:

To describe knowledge of HBCs who care for T2DM patients in a rural village in South Africa.

Methods:

A self-administered questionnaire with closed-ended questions was used. The questionnaire included seven questions to assess biographic characteristics, 13 self-test statements to assess actual common practices and 29 statements to test diabetes knowledge. Data were captured and analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 24.

Results:

More than 60% of the HBCs' had between 5 and 10 years of experience with a mean of 9 years. Eighty-nine percent (89%) of HBCs had some kind of secondary education but 89% never attended an in-service training on T2DM. Only 27% of HBCs agreed with the statement they could instruct people with diabetes on daily personal care and 11% agreed they could identify the normal ranges of blood glucose. Where 57% of the respondents agreed with the statement they could not perform one method of blood glucose control, 1 out of 3 (32%) agreed with the statement they could not instruct people with diabetes on self-care management for a sick day. The results revealed that there was no significant relationship (rho= .055, N = 53, p = 0.69) between HBCs years of experience and knowledge scores.

Conclusion:

The study showed that HBCs who care for people with diabetes lack knowledge with regard to diabetes mellitus. Therefore, people with diabetes in a rural village in South Africa are not managed well and there is a need for training of HBCs on T2DM.

Keywords: Knowledge, Practices, Diabetes mellitus, Home based carers, Type 2 diabetes mellitus, Non-communicable diseases.