Objective:

Analyze the cultural dimensions of the diabetic foot concept in people with diabetes mellitus and in medical students.

Material and Methods:

Exploratory descriptive study based on the foundations of cognitive anthropology and the theory of cultural consensus. Forty people participated (20 people with diabetes and 20 medical students in the seventh semester). The study was conducted in Guadalajara, Mexico, in a second level hospital, in the first three months of the year 2019. Free lists and pile sort were used to identify the content and the organization of the dimensions. In the case of the aggregated values, hierarchical conglomerates analyzed the matrices. In the case of individual values, the matrices were analyzed using a cultural consensus model.

Results:

People with diabetes mellitus conformed the concept of diabetic foot by the dimensions of consequences and complications, whereas the medical students conformed the concept by the dimensions of consequences and complications. The cultural consensus was found in both groups with the following reasons F1:F2, people with diabetes: 3.14; medical students: 6.73. The dimensions had adequate values with the stress of 0.21 for the people with diabetes, and of 0.13 for the medical students.

Conclusions:

Gratefully, these results and the approach towards these two groups' key elements could be found for a future application of programs of health prevention and deeper and integral treatment process for the people with diabetes mellitus.

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