Journal of Clinical Nutrition & Dietetics

Abstract

Providing right information based on needs of the individual paramount in effective self-management of diabetes. To accomplish this identification of information needs from patient’s perspective would be beneficial in bringing desirable changes among them. With this intention the present study was conducted to identify the information needs of type-2 diabetes patients in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. Data on profile characteristics and information needs were presented in the study. Majority of the respondents were females, the mean age of the respondents was 54.3, more than three fourth of the respondents were literates, with average income and diabetic mean age of 8.02 years. The information needs were categorized into clinical, nutrition and management. Among the three, nutritional needs found to be high received priority with a mean score of (1.8) followed by clinical (1.6) and management (1.5). High priority to nutrition related needs may be that there exist individual variations in food choices, habits and practices which underline the significance of more personalized information. Along with this overall health status of the respondents i.e., associated disorders of diabetes also influences individual need to know about the nutritional aspects of various foods.