*Corresponding author: Idda H. Mosha Department of Behavioural Sciences, School of Public Health and Social Sciences, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, P.O. Box 65015, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania ISSN: 0976-3031 Research Article FAMILY SUPPORT AND ADHERENCE TO DIETARY RECOMMENDATIONS AMONG DIABETIC PATIENTS ATTENDING CLINICS IN DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA: A CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY Winfrida O. Akyoo 1 , Germana H. Leyna 2 , Deodatus C. Kakoko 1 and *Idda H. Mosha 1 1 Department of Behavioural Sciences, School of Public Health and Social Sciences, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, P.O. Box 65015, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 2 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health and Social Sciences, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, P.O. Box 65001, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24327/ijrsr.2019.1010.4090 ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Background: Type 2 diabetes is a chronic health condition that is increasing rapidly globally and in sub-Saharan Africa. The basis of diabetes management is dietary behaviour change which is subjective to influence from significant others like family. We conducted a study to determine the association between family support and dietary adherence in type 2 diabetic patients attending three Municipal diabetic clinics in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Methods: This was a cross sectional study. A questionnaire was used to collect information from systematically selected sample of 360 adult type 2 diabetic patients. The questions on the questionnaire focused on socio-demographic characteristics, dietary advice, adherence to dietary recommendations and family support. SPSS version 20 was used for analysis and chi-square was used to establish associations between variables. P-value of 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Results: Dietary adherence was low since over 80% of the study participants were non adherent on dietary recommendations. More than 50% reported supportive family practices. The odds of non- adherence were 1.9 times more among participants with non supportive families compared to others with supportive families. Conclusion: Family support was determined as an important factor to dietary adherence. Accordingly, health sector especially the non-communicable department should consider family involvement in treatment and management of type 2 diabetes. INTRODUCTION Background The growing burden of non-communicable diseases in low and middle-income countries is one of the most important global health challenges today [1]. Diabetes, one of the non- communicable diseases, is a chronic health condition that is becoming a global epidemic [1,2]. It is characterized by high levels of glucose in the blood that occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin (type 1) or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces[1,3]. The global prevalence of diabetes in 2014 was estimated to be 422 million adults aged over 18 years[4-7] and 1–12% in rural and urban communities in East Africa [8,9]. Type 2 diabetes accounts for over 90% of diabetes in sub-Saharan Africa and studies have identified a higher prevalence rate of Type 2 Diabetes in the urban communities compared to rural dwellers in Tanzania, Mozambique, Cameroon, and Kenya [10,11]. Type 2 diabetes prevalence rate is approximately 3.2% to 9% in the Tanzanian general population [2,12]. Diabetic patients hold the main responsibility for routinely management of their chronic situation which is an essential part of delaying onset and severity of disease complications in economically constrained low-income countries [13]. About 85% of complications and morbidities among type 2 diabetic individuals can be prevented, delayed, or well treated and minimized with regular visits to health professionals, proper monitoring and medication, and particularly a healthy diet and Available Online at http://www.recentscientific.com International Journal of Recent Scientific Research International Journal of Recent Scientific Research Vol. 10, Issue, 10(D), pp. 35370-35377, October, 2019 Copyright © Winfrida O. Akyoo et al, 2019, this is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: 10.24327/IJRSR CODEN: IJRSFP (USA) Article History: Received 12 th June, 2019 Received in revised form 23 rd August, 2019 Accepted 7 th September, 2019 Published online 28 th October, 2019 Key Words: Dietary adherence, type 2 diabetes, family support, family support and emotional family support