This study was conducted to determine the level of knowledge and perceptions of Type Two
Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) among people in Rwamagana District.
A quantitative descriptive design and a cluster multistage sampling technique were used in
this study. Out of a sample of 355 people, 301 voluntary participated in the study and
completed the anonymous questionnaires. The response rate was 85%. The questions in the
questionnaire were designed to collect socio-demographic information of the participants,
their knowledge of diabetes and their perceptions of diabetes.
Analysis of findings revealed that the level of knowledge of diabetes was inadequate and low
among participants. Very few participants were able to answer properly the questions aimed
to explore their knowledge of the meaning, signs/symptoms, causes, risk factors,
management and prevention of diabetes. In addition many participants answered that they
had no knowledge about any of the aspects of diabetes explored in our questionnaire. The
perceptions were also poor and inadequate, especially perceptions of diabetes management at
the community level and of diabetes prevention. The perceived risk of developing diabetes
was low and many participants felt that behaviour change was of no importance in the
prevention of diabetes, since the majority reported that they were not planning any behaviour
change in the future.
The findings suggest that there is a need for education campaigns in Rwamagana district to
raise public knowledge about all aspects of diabetes. There is a need also to train the
community health workers of this district to enable them to offer proper advice at the
community level about diabetes prevention and management. The findings from this study
could be used to assist in the planning of diabetes prevention and management programs in
Rwamagana district. / Thesis (M.N.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Howard College, 2010.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/9038 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Mukeshimana, Madeleine. |
| Contributors | Nkosi, Zethu Zerish. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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