What is the practice and understanding of podiatrists towards patient-centred consultations regarding diabetic foot care?

Background: Patient education is an integral part of diabetes management, yet research shows that increased knowledge alone does not translate into behaviour change. Behaviour change techniques (BCTs) have the potential to increase foot self-care and reduce the incidence of diabetic foot disease. Aims: The aim of this study was to explore the practice and understanding of podiatrists towards patient-centred support versus prescriptive instruction in consultations regarding diabetic foot care. Methods: The study was a cross-sectional design with a web-based questionnaire distributed to members of the College of Podiatry in the UK. Descriptive statistics, conceptual content analysis and the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient were used to analyse the data. Results: Most respondents reported using BCTs in their consultations “often” or “very often” and that they “strongly agree” or “agree” that their consultations were patient-led … read more