Medicina alternativa y su relación con la adherencia terapéutica en el tratamiento de la Diabetes Mellitus en una comunidad rural de la provincia de Loja

Abstract

Abstract: The purpose of this research was to determine the knowledge and perceptions about alternative medicine and its relationship with therapeutic adherence in the treatment of diabetes mellitus in a rural community. A mixed type (quantitative-qualitative) study was carried out that included 51 diabetic patients from the San Pedro de la Bendita Loja parish, applying a semi-structured interview on alternative medicine and the simplified Morisky Green test for therapeutic adherence. Data analysis was performed using the N-VIVO14 and SPSS26 programs. Results: it was found that 88.2% of the participants were not adherent to drug treatment, with no relationship between sociodemographic characteristics and non-adherence. In the qualitative analysis, 2 themes and 8 sub-themes of diabetes mellitus were presented, focused on the diagnosis, etiology, influence of food and recommendation of the population on alternative medicine. Conclusion: The studied population has a high percentage of pharmacological non-adherence, they have knowledge about the diagnosis, treatment and perceive the use of herbal infusions as an alternative treatment of diabetes mellitus, recommending a combined therapy.