PhD Scientific Days 2024

Health Sciences II.

Factors influencing health awareness among Hungarian diabetic patients

Text of the abstract

Introduction: Diabetes Mellitus is affecting every 12th person in Hungary. According to the last officially published (2014) survey of The Hungarian Diabetes Association there are772,000 patients who had taken a blood glucose-lowering drug based on data from diabetics in the OEP database. The number of diabetic patients has been increasing and approximately there are another 500,000 people who are already affected but haven’t yet been diagnosed.
Aims: The research looked at patients' perceptions of lifestyle changes related to diabetes, their perceptions of the information they receive from healthcare professionals, their own perceptions of the information they receive about their illness, and how awareness work in this area Professionals and patients have not previously been asked about this issue at the same time, so only speculations could have been made about what might explain the suboptimal cooperation of patients. The research among people with diabetes and the professionals involved in their treatment has revealed a number of inconsistencies and shortcomings that fundamentally hamper effective cooperation on both sides.
Methods: A complex, 3-phase research methodology, although the presentation focuses exclusively on quantitative patient data.
Descriptive, quantitative questionnaire survey
(N patient = 1800, N healthcare experts = 202)
Results: A substantial number of diabetic patients had low health literacy due to several factors among which age, education and occupation of the respondents have significant impact on the effectiveness and willingness on self-management.
Conclusion: In case of diabetic patient’s lifestyle treatment is at least as important as medication. With regard to people with a lower level of health literacy, it would be essential to increase the emphasis in primary and secondary education on content and programs that provide effective knowledge transfer on healthy lifestyles, with a particular focus on T2DM thus, preventing it or if diagnosed being able to lead a more effective self-management.
Taking into account that teachers have higher education qualification and that they can serve as significant models for young people it would be very important to take advantage of their roles in the lives of students.