Abstract
Insulin treatment is one of the standard regimens for controlling blood glucose in
patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). The use of the “Insulin Pen” device for injecting
insulin, instead of the traditional vial/syringe for injection, provides additional convenience and accuracy and it reduces pain during injection. This descriptive observational
study was aimed at studying the behavior of 124 DM patients using insulin pens. Questionnaires were used to assess the following items: knowledge, history of using the insulin pen, attitude and practice in using the pen.
Data were analyzed by independent sample t-test and one-way ANOVA (F-test).
The majority (70.17%) of the samples were women, the average age of the samples was
57.0 ± 5.0 years; 87.90 percent of the patients were primary school graduates; 74.19 percent were experienced in using the pen for 6-8 months; 78.20 percent had used the traditional syringe insulin injection twice daily before switching to the insulin pen; 41.19 percent self-administed the insulin injection; 92.74 percent were instructed about the insulin
pen, using the method described by health-care staff. The average knowledge score was
8.25 ± 2.17 out of a possible 10; the average attitude score was 3.14 ± 1.55 out of a possible
4 and the average practice score was 2.62 ± 0.54 out of a possible 3. When comparing the
differences in sex, age, knowledge, history of using the insulin pen, attitude and practice
in using the pen, we found that differences in educational background affected the knowledge of patients about using the insulin pen. The ones who were experienced in using
the insulin pen were more likely to use it correctly than those who were inexperienced (p
< 0.05).
