Abstract:
The purposes of this research were to study the health-related quality of life in diabetic patients with foot ulcers and to study the relationships between personal factors symptom experiences, HbA1c, complications of diabetes, self-care behaviors and social support, with health-related quality of life in diabetic patient with foot ulcers, Tertiary hospitals in Bangkok. The samples of study were 135 patients with diabetic foot ulcers, aged 18-59 years, who attended wound care at the surgical clinic, out-patient department in King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Thai Red Cross Society; Rajavithi Hospital Department of Medical services and Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and Vajira Hospital. They were selected by using purposive sampling as inclusion criteria. The instruments for data collection were demographic data form and clinical outcomes such as HbA1c, diabetic complications, 4 questionnaires including the Diabetic Foot Ulcer Scale-short form (DFS-SF) , Symptom Experiences, Self- Care Behaviors and Social Support . All those questionnaires were reviewed by 5 experts for content validity. The Cronbachs alpha coefficients were 0.77, 0.72,0.77 and 0.92 respectively. The data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation and Pearsons product moment correlation and Spearman correlation coefficient. The finding of this study were as follows: 1. Health-related quality of life in diabetic patients with foot ulcers in diabetic patients with foot ulcers had average score at moderate level (mean =3.36, SD =0.38). 2. Self-Care Behaviors were significantly positive related to HRQOL at level of .05 3. Symptom experiences, HbA1c, complications of diabetes and social support were not related to HRQOL.