INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHARMACY & LIFE SCIENCES Pilot study on barriers influencing the compliance towards exercise recommendation in patients with diabetes mellitus

The purposes of this study were to identify the pat tern of exercise, as well as to determine the possi ble barriers that influence compliance towards exercise in patients w ith 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 consis ts of questions on exercise habit and barriers to e xercise compliance related to belief, knowledge, attitude, and environment. The data analyzed using descriptiv e statistics in SPSS version 12.0. More than half of patients with diabetes having exercised for less than 3 times p er week as recommended, and claimed that they were not active in exercising. This showed poor exercise compliance among them. Patients’ belief and knowledge towards exerci sing were not the barriers to exercise compliance. This can be explained as patient had the right belief and adequ ate knowledge regarding exercise requirements for t hem. The barriers to exercise compliance as determined in th is study were the environmental factors, such as ti me constraint to exercise or having not enough time to exercise, bus y with daily works, as well as no companion to exer cise. 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 b arrier towards exercise in diabetic patients.