Self-Care Practices among Children with Type-1 Diabetes Mellitus in Gaza Strip, Palestine
Date
2022-12-20
Authors
Shereen Rezeq Shaban Halasa
شرين رزق شعبان حلاسة
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Al-Quds University
Abstract
Self-Care Practices among Children with Type-1 Diabetes Mellitus is very important to improve child health outcome and decrease mortality rate. The purpose of this study was to assess the level of self-care management practices of children with type-1 diabetes mellitus in the Gaza Strip. A cross-sectional study designs. The sample of the study was convenient and consecutive, consisted of 251 children aged 10 to 18 who have DMT1and are attending governmental and UNRWA primary healthcare centers in Gaza strip including jabalia martyrs PHCC, Rimal martyrs PHCC, Dier-Balah martyrs PHCC, Khan-Youns martyrs PHCC, and Rafah martyrs PHCC. The study has been conducted during the period from February 2022 to November 2022. For data collection, the researcher was used call phone questionnaire to assess the level of self-care management practices of children with type-1 diabetes mellitus in the Gaza Strip. A pilot study was conducted on 25 questionnaires, clarity and content validity of the questionnaire was examined by a group of experts, reliability was examined and alpha coefficient was range from 0.740 and 0.825. Different statistical procedures were done to achieve the study objectives and answer research questions. Ethical approval was obtained from Helsinki committee and consent form was attached to each questionnaire for respondent, as well as administrative approval for data collection was obtained from the ministry of health and UNRWA. The total mean score (in days) of self-care management practices of children with DMT1is 3.88 days. Self-care management practice which got the highest mean score is “Testing blood glucose” with a mean 4.38, followed by “Medication practices” with a mean score 4.37. On the other hand, self-care management practice which got the lowest mean score is “Diet” with a mean 2.82. Factors associated significantly with performing self-care practices involve previous hospitalization, child family’s income, parents' education, and site of follow-up. Children have to be monitored in terms of their diet and exercise practices, especially at school and home, and health education activities should stress these two areas. Moreover, developing a protocol for self-care management practices for nurses and other healthcare providers to be followed by them when instructing children with type 1 DM.