Okafor, Christiana NkiruOkonkwo, Uchenna ProsperAni, Kenneth UmezulikeOnuora, Ethel OgoemekaNwokike, MathewTuryasingura, Jane ByabagambiMunezero, Tamu JohnBoscoMfitumukiza1, ValenceNwankwo, Mercy ChinenyeTumusiime, Alex2024-10-222024-10-222024Okafor, Christiana Nkiru et al. (2024). Self-Care Practices and the Associated Socio-Demographic Variables of Persons With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2dm) in Southeast, Nigeria. Kabale: Kabale University.http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12493/2342Objective: The study was aimed at assessing the self-care practices and the associated socio-demographic variables of persons with T2DM in South East, Nigeria. Methodology: A cross-sectional study involving 382 persons with T2DM proportionately selected from 4 tertiary health institutions in South Eastern, Nigeria. Data was collected using the Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities (SDSCA) and a researcher-developed ques- tionnaire. The questionnaire was administered to persons with T2DM who attended a diabetic outpatient clinic. Data collected was analyzed in frequency percentage. Responses on SDSCA were ranked and rated as poor, moderate, and good self-care behavior. The level of signifi- cance was placed at P < .05. Result: The majority of the participants were within the age groups of 40 to 59 (46.9%) and 60 and above (46.9%); the majority (74.6%) were married while a good proportion were traders (59.7%). Also, the majority of participants (81.2%) were on oral hypoglycemic agents. Findings further showed that a good proportion (51.3% and 89.8%) of study participants had good self-care behavior in diet and medication domains respectively. Whereas the proportion of participants with poor self-care behavior was very high in foot care (75.1%) and fairly high in both self-blood sugar testing (37.7%) and exercise (37.2%) domains. Only 7.9% practiced 3-monthly laboratory blood glucose testing while 16.5% went for eye checks every 6 months. Conclusion: Individuals with diabetes mellitus have poor self-management behavior in most domains of the self-management practice. Age, gender, marital status, educational level, and occupation significantly influenced self-management practices. Hence nurses and health educators should take diabetes self-management education very seriously to help diabetes sufferers improve their self-management behavior.enAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United Stateshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/T2DMSelf-Management PracticesSocio-Demographic VariablesArticle