Assessment of knowledge and attitude of non-diabetics population towards diabetes: a survey in urban and rural areas of Selangor / Fatin Syazira Abdul Aziz

The prevalence of DM in Malaysia is increasing at an alarming level day by day. Due to this problem, the public's knowledge and attitude towards the disease should be assessed. To date, there is limited data on knowledge and attitude on DM in Malaysia particularly in Selangor. The study aims to assess the knowledge and attitude towards DM among the non-diabetics in the urban and rural areas of Selangor. A cross sectional survey was conducted to evaluate the non-diabetics' knowledge of diabetes and their attitude towards the disease. The respondents were required to answer 28 questions from a pre-tested questionnaire divided into five main sections which are general knowledge, risk factors, symptoms, complications, preventive measures, treatment and management of DM sections. Four queries were asked to assess the level of attitude towards DM. A point was awarded for each correct answer and zero for wrong or unsure responses. The maximum total score was 28. A total of 500 respondents comprising of 250 urban and 250 rural respondents participated in the study. The mean score for knowledge on DM for urban and rural respondents were 17.87 ± 5.30 and 17.98 ± 4.96, respectively. Approximately 80% of respondents from both groups scored 50% out of the 28 questions asked. They have sufficient knowledge on risk factors, symptoms complication, preventive measures, treatment and management of DM sections of the questionnaire. They performed best in preventive measures section and worst in general knowledge. Gender, education level, and monthly income did not influence the level of knowledge for both urban and rural respondents. Urban respondents aged between 61 to 65 years old, married respondents and pensioner group have higher level of knowledge on DM. Meanwhile, rural respondents between 51 to 60 years old and divorced respondents are more knowledgeable on DM. For both urban and rural groups, Indian respondents have higher level of knowledge on DM compared to other races. In conclusion, both urban and rural respondents' had high knowledge on diabetes but there were some areas of deficiency. Urban respondents had more positive attitude towards DM than the rural respondents. There was a correlation between knowledge and attitude but the increase in level of knowledge does not influence the increase in the level of attitude ofrespondents towards DM.