Self-Care Practices and Drivers of Anti-Diabetic Type 2 Medication Non-Compliance among Patients Accessing Healthcare at a Health Facility in Ghana

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic chronic disease affecting a majority of adults with associated complications. The non-compliance to the anti-diabetic medication has become a global challenge to achieving optimal glucose control among Diabetes Type 2 patients. This study, therefore, sought to determine the self-care practices and drivers of anti-diabetic type 2 medication non-compliance among patients accessing health care at Volta River Authority Hospital in Akosombo of Ghana.

Methods: A quantitative study and descriptive cross-sectional design employed a simple random sampling technique to recruit 220 diabetes type 2 patients by administering a structured questionnaire face to face to gather data. Data were analysed with the help of Stata 16. A descriptive and inferential statistic was conducted to determine the relationship between the dependent and independent variables at a 95% confidence interval and a p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statically significant.

Results: The study found that non-adherence to anti-diabetic medication was 45.5%. Most of the participants had inadequate (52.3%) self-care practices. Age of participants (40-49) years [p=0.0001], Female [p=0.004] significantly influenced non-compliance. Being Single [p=0.001] and presence of comorbidity [p=0.001] also associated with medication non-compliance.

Conclusion: The study concluded that a significant proportion of diabetes type 2 patients do not comply with anti-diabetic medication and this was influenced by inadequate self-care practices, age, female, comorbidity and being single. The study recommended the intensification of awareness creation on complications of non-complying to anti-diabetic medication and education on self-care practices through mass media. Further studies are required to identify the possible predictors of inadequate self-care practices that influence anti-diabetic medication non-compliance.