Assessment of diabetes knowledge levels in university students

Aim: Diabetes is a common and important health problem. With this 
study, it was aimed to assessment the diabetes knowledge level of 
students studying in the field of health. Materials-Methods:  The 
research was carried out between January-February 2022 with students 
studying at a university’s health vocational school and who will work 
in the sector with the title of health technician in the future. Sample 
selection was not made in the study and 93% (n=175) of the students 
were reached. In this descriptive study, a questionnaire was used as 
the data collection method. The first part of the questionnaire, which 
consists of two parts, included sociodemographic characteristics. In 
the second part, “Diabetes Knowledge Questionnaire (DKQ-24)” was 
used to examine the diabetes knowledge of the students. Results: 
The age range of the students is 18-26 years and the mean age is 
21.01±2.21. 54.9% of them were 20 years old and under, 88% were 
women, 60.6% were first class, 51.4% had income equal to their 
expenses. The average knowledge level of the participants in the 
diabetes knowledge questionnaire was found to be 69.1%. Conclusion: 
In our study, it was observed that the diabetes knowledge level of 
the students was limited. It was found that the second graders had a 
higher level of knowledge than the first graders. Improvements should 
be made in the education curriculum to increase the knowledge and 
awareness of students about diabetes.