Pilot study on barriers influencing the compliance towards exercise recommendation in patients with diabetes mellitus

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to identify the pattern of exercise, as well as to determine the possible barriers that influence compliance towards exercise in patients with diabetes. This was a cross sectional study with the sample of 127 patients who underwent follow up with Diabetes Clinic of Pulau Pinang Hospital. Random sampling technique used and subjects were given a questionnaire consists of questions on exercise habit and barriers to exercise compliance related to belief, knowledge, attitude, and environment. The data analyzed using descriptive statistics in SPSS version 12.0. More than half of  patients with diabetes  having exercised for less than 3 times per week as recommended, and claimed that they were not active in exercising. This showed poor exercise compliance among them. Patients’ belief and knowledge towards exercising were not the barriers to exercise compliance. This can be explained as patient had the right belief and adequate knowledge regarding exercise requirements for them.   The barriers to exercise compliance as determined in this study were the environmental factors, such as time constraint to exercise or having not enough time to exercise, busy with daily works, as well as no companion to exercise. Other barriers such as laziness to exercise, poor health condition, and tired were also reported.  As a conclusion, environmental factors play an important role as a barrier towards exercise in diabetic patients.