. Azar Tol; . Davoud Shojaeezadeh; . Golamreza Sharifirad; . Ahmadali Eslami; . Mohamadreza Mohajeritehrani; . Abdolvahab Baghbanian
Volume 2, Issue 2 , July 2012, , Pages 1-5
Abstract
Background: The purpose of this study was to assess self‑care practices and their relativecomponents among type 2 diabetic patients. We hypothesized that some sociodemographicand ...
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Background: The purpose of this study was to assess self‑care practices and their relativecomponents among type 2 diabetic patients. We hypothesized that some sociodemographicand health‑related factors, high diabetes distress, and low self‑efficacy would be associatedwith poorer self‑care practices. Materials and Methods: A cross‑sectional study was conductedfor a period of 6 months in 2011. Study population was type 2 diabetic patients referring toOmolbanin center, an outpatient diabetic center in Isfahan. One hundred forty diabetic patientsmet the inclusion criteria and were all included in the study. Patients’ self‑care practices weremeasured by Summary of Diabetes Self‑care Activities (SDSCA) self‑report scale that includesitems on the following aspects of the diabetes regimen: General diet, specific diet, exercise,blood glucose testing, foot care, medications, and smoking. Diabetes distress measuredby Diabetes Distress Scale (DDS) scale and Stanford diabetes self‑efficacy scale was usedfor scoring this issue. Collected data were analyzed by using SPSS software version 11.5.Results: Participants were between the ages of 37 and 75 years, with a mean of 53.23 years(SD=7.82). Fifty‑four percent (n=76) were females; 97.1% were married (n=136), and 53.6%had education lower than diploma (n=75). Mean of duration of diabetes was 7.1 (SD=5.63)years. “Medications” subscale was considered as the most important one in measuringdiabetes self‑care practices (5.24 ± 2.38 days/week). Study findings revealed that general diethad significant relation with comorbidity, type of treatment, body mass index (BMI), fastingblood sugar (FBS), (Blood Sugar) (BS), waist circumference, diabetes distress, and self‑efficacy.Specific diet had significant relation with comorbidity, education, triglyceride (TG), diastolicblood pressure (DBP), and low density lipoprotein (LDL). Exercise showed significant relationwith history of diabetes, education, type of treatment, disease duration, TG, BMI, and BS. Also,blood glucose testing showed significant relation with disease duration, self‑efficacy, TG, DBP,BS, LDL, and high density lipoprotein (HDL). On the other hand, foot care was related to age,diabetes distress, TG, BMI, HDL, and diabetes complications. Medications subscale as themost important subscale of self‑care practices was relevant with age, disease duration, diabetescomplications, type of treatment, FBS, HDL, and self‑efficacy. The last subscale, smoking, hadsignificant relation with sex, diabetes complications, diabetes distress, self‑efficacy, TG, totalcholesterol, BS, and HDL. Conclusion: This information should be used in clinical practicewhen targeting and designing educational and care plan for patients with type 2 diabetes.