Abstract Background: Lifestyle modification, particularly following an appropriate dietary pattern, can either prevent or promote type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The aim of the study was to investigate the dietary knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) in T2DM patients and their accompanying family members in the North Indian rural population. Materials and Methods: A total of three hundred (300) T2DM patients and their accompanying family members attending the diabetic outpatient department in our hospital were recruited for the study, and a validated questionnaire on KAP of diabetic diet was used to assess KAP toward diabetic diet. Data were collected and analyzed using SPSS 21 (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA). Results: Dietary KAP mean score about diabetic diet in the questionnaire among T2DM patients was 2.65 ± 0.50, 2.78 ± 0.38, and 2.56 ± 0.33, respectively, whereas in their accompanying family members was 2.33 ± 0.43, 2.88 ± 0.44, and 2.41 ± 0.32, respectively, in the Likert’s maximum score of 04 on ordinal scale. There was a reported negative correlation between glycosylated hemoglobin of T2DM patients and their dietary practice ( r = −0.248, P < 0.05) in Pearson’s correlation statistical analysis. It also appears that the accompanying family members’ scores for dietary KAP, family history, and complications of the T2DM patients were significantly correlated with dietary practice of the T2DM patients. Conclusion: The dietary attitude score of T2DM patients and their accompanying family members was moderate, but dietary knowledge and practices were poor. Dietary KAP of T2DM patients correlated positively with their accompanying family members in the present study.
Kumar et al. (Thu,) studied this question.