Self-Care and the Use of Medication among Type 2 Diabetes Patients Treated at the Krung Thon Tai Public Health Centers of the Bangkok Metropolis

Abstract

This descriptive study is aimed to identify factors related to medication used behavior among type 2 diabetes patients registered for at least 6 months at the Krungthon Tai Public Health Center of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration. A sample of 400 patients was collected through face-to-face interviews by specially trained research assistants. The study used descriptive statistics, such as frequency distributions, means, standard deviations and percentages. The Pearson correlation and multiple regression analysis were applied for statistical analysis. The results showed that 58.1 % of the sampled patients had a “good” level of overall medication use behavior. The “good” related to only 20.5% of the sample, while 31.8% needed to improve their self-care behavior. Less than a half of patients (47.8 %) had access to the healthcare service system, and most of the patients (89.0%) had a low level of social support. The type of medication used, self-care behavior, access to health service systems and the social support could explain medication used behavior of the type 2 diabetes patients by 11.7 %. The study suggests that there is a need for a multidisciplinary team of health care professionals, public health volunteers together with family and community participation to promote an appropriate use of medication especially drug adherence among diabetes patients.