{"doi":"10.12688/aasopenres.12992.2","title":"Self-management and its associated factors among people living with diabetes in Blantyre, Malawi: a cross-sectional study","abstract":"<ns3:p> <ns3:bold>Background:</ns3:bold> Self-management is key to the control of glycaemia and prevention of complications in people with diabetes. Many people with diabetes in Malawi have poorly controlled glucose and they experience diabetes-related complications. This study aimed to assess diabetes self-management behaviours and to identify factors associated with it among people with diabetes at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, Blantyre, Malawi <ns3:bold>.</ns3:bold> </ns3:p> <ns3:p> <ns3:bold>Methods:</ns3:bold> This cross-sectional study recruited 510 adults attending a diabetes clinic at a teaching referral hospital in southern Malawi. The social cognitive theory was applied to identify factors associated with following all recommended self-management behaviours. Data on participants’ demographics, clinical history, diabetes knowledge, self-efficacy, outcome expectations, social support, environmental barriers and diabetes self-management were collected. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify factors associated with following all self-management behaviours. </ns3:p> <ns3:p> <ns3:bold>Results:</ns3:bold> The mean age of participants was 53.6 (SD 13.3) years. The majority (82%) were females. Self-reported medication adherence within the last seven days was 88.6%; 77% reported being physically active for at least 30 minutes on more than three days in the previous seven days; 69% reported checking their feet every day and inspecting inside their shoes; 58% reported following a healthy diet regularly. Only 33% reported following all the self-management behaviours regularly. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that self-efficacy was the only social cognitive factor associated with following all the self-management practices (p &lt; 0.001). </ns3:p> <ns3:p> <ns3:bold>Conclusions:</ns3:bold> Participants in our study were not consistently achieving all self-management practices with dietary practices being the least adhered to behaviour by many. To improve self-management practices of people with diabetes, current health education programs should not only aim at improving diabetes related knowledge but also self-efficacy. Adopting interventions that promote self-efficacy in diabetes patients such as exposure to role models, peer education, providing positive feedback, and counselling is recommended. </ns3:p>","journal":"Open Research Africa","year":2021,"id":209668,"datarank":0.2477448127538592,"base_score":1.3862943611198906,"endowment":1.3862943611198906,"self_citation_contribution":0.20794415416798362,"citation_network_contribution":0.03980065858587558,"self_endowment_contribution":0.20794415416798362,"citer_contribution":0.03980065858587558,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":3,"citer_count":2,"citers_with_citation_signal":2,"citers_with_endowment":2,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9648,"is_data_producer":true,"deposit_databanks":{"figshare":["10.6084/m9.figshare.9757076.v1"]},"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2021-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":797756,"name":"Belinda Thandizo Gombachika","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":84010,"name":"Moffat Nyirenda","orcid":"0000-0003-2120-4806","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":515115,"name":"Adamson S. Muula","orcid":"0000-0003-4412-9773","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":797350,"name":"Chimwemwe Kwanjo Banda","orcid":"0000-0001-9337-3583","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":48,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:52:05.171356Z","pmid":"40078796","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}