TRADITIONAL BELIEFS IN THE MANAGEMENT OF DIABETES MELLITUS AMONG OUTPATIENT ATTENDEES IN FEDERAL MEDICAL CENTRE, OWO, ONDO STATE

retes mellitus is an increasing public health concern globally, including in Nigeria, due to its sing prevalence and associated complications. This study assessed knowledge of diabetes lellitus, common traditional beliefs and practices, their impact on health outcomes, and factors fluencing adherence to traditional beliefs in the management of diabetes mellitus among utpatient attendees in Federal Medical Centre, Owo, Ondo State, Nigeria. The study utilized the heory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) as its theoretical framework ard adopted a descriptive cross-sectional design with a simple random sampling technique. The sample size of 86 espondents was determined using the Taro Yamane formula. Data was collected through a self-structured questionnaire, and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) ersion 23. Descriptive analysis and Chi-Square tests were conducted to test the hypothesis at a 0.05 level of significance. Ethical considerations were duly obtained from the ethical review board at FMC, Owo. Findings revealed that 67.4% of respondents had good knowledge of diabetes mellitus, while 52.3% demonstrated low adherence to traditional beliefs and practices. Traditional beliefs were associated with negative health impacts, including fluctuations in blood sugar levels and worsened health outcomes. A significant relationship was found between respondents educational level and reliance on traditional beliefs (X?=64.005, df=6, p