Compliance to physical activity recommendations amongst type 2 diabetic patients at Thika Level 5 Hospital, Kiambu County, Kenya

Public Health

Abundant literature supports the beneficial effects of physical activity for improving and maintaining type 2 diabetic patient’s glycaemic levels. Patient compliance to lifestyle modifications is difficult to initiate and sustain. Descriptive cross-sectional design was used to study 228 type 2 diabetic patients at Thika Level 5 Hospital. Systematic sampling technique was used. Data was collected using a researcher-administered structured questionnaire. Quantitative data analysis was conducted using SPSS version 25.0 and involved univariate and bivariate analysis. Chi- square were used to test the significance of the association between the dependent and independent variables (p<0.05). The study findings revealed that SE=0.845) and a kurtosis of -0.546(SE=1.741), 55.8% complied with exercise lifestyle recommendations. Employment status (p value=0.045); age (p=0.019) and education (p=0.045) were significantly associated with compliance with exercise. Majority of respondents 207(86.3%) understood that both gentle aerobic exercise and health dietary habits play role in diabetic management. A significant number of female 111(88.1%) and 110(87.3%) and males 99(86.8%) and 99(86.8%) perceived gentle aerobic has role in management of type 2 diabetes and control of sugar respectively. Being/having too busy schedule 129(53.8%) and weather especially during cold seasons 127(52.9%) were cited as most common barriers to complying with exercise. All stakeholders including clinicians, dietitians, health educationists and policy makers should be made aware by providers about the alarmingly high proportion of non-compliance to physical activity advices among diabetic population in Thika. Physical activity advices should be tailored to individual with particular focus on gender, marital status, and socioeconomic status.

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