Assessment of the knowledge, attitude and management practices on care of children with type 1 diabetes mellitus among primary and intermediate school teachers in al-ahsa city, saudi arabia

Introduction: Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus [T1DM] is considered as one of the most common chronic diseases among children. It is caused by insulin deficiency following the destruction of the insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells. It mostly presented in childhood, but one-fourth of cases diagnosed in adults. School staffs including the teachers’ knowledge, attitude and practice about type 1 diabetes play important role in creating awareness about the childhood diabetes and persuading diabetic students to follow physicians advice towards the treatment children attending their school to adhere with the treatment plan advised to them by treating physicians..
Aim: This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practice (KAP) of school staffs, administrators, and teachers towards participating in the efforts for managing T1DM and its complications amongst children.
Materials and methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted among school teachers aged between the age 23 and 60 years who live in Al-Ahsa. A self–completed questionnaire was designated that were given to the schools' teachers which comprised of basic demographic data, assessment of diabetic knowledge about signs, symptoms and complication of diabetes and management attitude and practices among school teachers for diabetic student at the school setting. All data analyses were performed using SPSS version 21.
Results: The total mean knowledge score was 9.87 (SD 3.03) out of 16 points. Almost sixty four percent of the teachers had good knowledge about the signs, symptoms and management of type 1 diabetes As far as the attitude of the teachers yowrds type 1 diabetic children are concerned, more than fifty eight percent of them had positive attitude. Similarly more than fifty three percent of the teachers had good price towards the type 1 diabetes children. Positive significant correlation was found between knowledge, attitude and practices score (P<0.001). Some of the most notable results in inferential statistics were, increasing age was associated with the increased in knowledge (T=-2.525; P<0.001), attitude (T=-2.509; P=0.006) and practices (T=-2.972; P=0.019) while those who were living in urban were more associated with negative attitude (T=-1.132; P=0.039).
Conclusion: Teachers had adequate knowledge, attitude and management practices on care among children with T1DM. Increasing age and previous history of T1DMwerethepredictors of good knowledge, attitude and practices while living in urban was the predictor of negative attitude.