An Assessment of the Diabetic Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of School Teachers in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Background: Teachers are the cornerstone of the next generation and they are considered an important source of health information for students about diabetes. The objective of this study is to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of teachers about diabetes mellitus (DM) and to identify the associated factors. Methods: Cross-sectional study design included a stratified random sample of male and female teachers from public and private schools in Riyadh city. A self-administered online questionnaire was developed. The data collection was from October to November 2019. Results: The study included 633 teachers. Overall, 57.2% of the surveyed teachers were knowledgeable about DM. Teachers aged between 51 and 60 years (p = 0.005), males (p = 0.018), PhD holders (p = 0.011), teaching science (p = 0.021), having more than 20 years of teaching experience (p = 0.001), diabetics (p < 0.001), and having family history of diabetes (p = 0.007) had the highest level of knowledge. Overall, positive attitude towards DM was reported among 53.1% of the teachers. Those with teaching experience between 11 and 15 years (p = 0.024), diabetics (p = 0.029), and having a diabetic student (p = 0.012) had more positive attitude towards diabetes. Good diabetes-related practice was observed among 54.3% of the teachers. Older (p < 0.001), having more than 20 years of teaching experience (p < 0.001), non-Saudi (p = 0.011), diabetic teachers with longer duration of the disease (p < 0.001), having family history of DM (p = 0.028), and principals (p = 0.002) had the highest level of good diabetes-related practice. Conclusion: The KAP of teachers in public and private schools in Riyadh about DM was sufficient in many aspects. However, targeting new young teachers should be a priority to raise awareness.