The role of information resources used by diabetic patients on the management of their disease

Health information seeking and knowledge acquisition can play an important role in the management of chronic diseases such as diabetes. This research was carried out in order to study how diabetic patients that referred to Mashhad diabetic center acquired health knowledge.
This descriptive analytical cross-sectional study was carried out on 185 patients with diabetes in Mashhad in 2015. Data were collected by using questionnaire that its validity was confirmed by two medical informatics experts and reliability was confirmed by test-retest. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and analytic statistics such as Chi-squared test by applying SPSS 22 software.
The average age of the patients was 61 and 63% of them were women. About 62% of diabetic patients had not acquired any knowledge about their disease after diagnosis of diabetes. Overall 38% of the patients did not relay on the acquired information and %23 of them stated inaccessibility to appropriate information resources such as internet, physician and diabete centers, as the reasons for not acquiring knowledge about their illness. From the view point of the patients (62.5%), the best resources for knowledge acquisition were physicians and the diabetes specialized centers.
Lack of knowledge acquisition and awareness about chronic disease such as diabetes are common problems among diabetic patients. This can lead to serious complications in patients and can impose high costs on health care system. Therefore, it is essential that health professionals use the effective methods for transferring information to this group of patients.