Abstract
BACKGROUND
The aim of the present study was to evaluate possible clinical and psychosocial variables that influence diabetes self-care management in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).
METHODS
A total of 150 individuals with T2DM who had had diabetes for at least 6 months were recruited to this cross-sectional study. Levels of self-care and psychosocial status were determined using the Self-Care Inventory (SCI) and Problem Areas in Diabetes (PAID) scale. The PAID scores were calculated using a five-point Likert scale with options ranging from 0 (not a problem) to 4 (serious problem). Data were evaluated using non-parametric and parametric tests as appropriate.
RESULTS
The mean age of the study participants was 69.97 ± 8.68 years. Cronbach's α for SCI and PAID scores was 0.85 and 0.98, respectively. People with poor glycemic control had significantly higher mean (±SD) total PAID scores than individuals with good glycemic control (29.5 ± 30.9 vs 16.7 ± 26.9, respectively; P = 0.012). There was a significant relationship between PAID scores and glycemic control (r = 0.2; P = 0.012).
CONCLUSIONS
The present study demonstrates that psychosocial factors directly influence glycemic control and diabetes self-care habits. In addition, diabetes-specific distress in study population was unrelated to the duration of diabetes, the age of the patients and anthropometric indices.
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