Podiatric Physicians' Perspectives on Their Role in Promoting Self-Care in High-Risk Patients with Diabetes

Background: Foot self-care is key in preventing morbidity in high-risk diabetic patients. Motivational interviewing (MI) is an approach to encourage behavior change by patients that can be used in medical settings. The goal was to explore how podiatric physicians promote self-care in such patients and whether they use MI techniques. Methods: We conducted a 19-question online survey of US-based practicing podiatric physicians. Most answers were on a 5-point scale. The MI index was the sum of answers to five relevant questions. Results: Of 843 podiatric physicians, 86% considered foot self-care to be very important for high-risk diabetic patients, and 90% felt that it was their role to discuss foot self-care with them; 49% felt that they had training and were successful in promoting behavior change, but most were definitely (38%) or possibly (46%) interested in learning more. Only 24% of respondents scored at least 15 of 20 on the MI index. Higher MI scores were associated with more face time and more time ...