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. 2019 Aug 14:2019:6271591.
doi: 10.1155/2019/6271591. eCollection 2019.

Identification of Psychological Factors Associated with Adherence to Self-Care Behaviors amongst Patients with Type 1 Diabetes

Dácil Alvarado-Martel  1   2 , M Ángeles Ruiz Fernández  3 , Maribel Cuadrado Vigaray  4 , Armando Carrillo  1   2 , Mauro Boronat  1   2 , Ana Expósito Montesdeoca  2 , Ana M Wägner  1   2
Affiliations

Identification of Psychological Factors Associated with Adherence to Self-Care Behaviors amongst Patients with Type 1 Diabetes

Dácil Alvarado-Martel et al. J Diabetes Res. .

Abstract

Purpose: To explore the factors involved in adherence to self-care behaviors in patients with type 1 diabetes.

Materials and methods: Patients with type 1 diabetes (age range: 14-71 years) were invited to participate at seven Spanish hospitals. They completed a dossier which recorded sociodemographic and clinical variables and also measured personality variables, emotional state, beliefs, and concerns regarding the illness, by means of questionnaires.

Results: A total of 428 patients with type 1 diabetes were included (58% women, age 36 (11.8) years, diabetes duration 18.3 (10.2) years, HbA1c 7.9 +/-1.3%). A total of 60.1% of patients found it difficult to follow the treatment recommendations for the care of their disease. The reasons given were mood (25.2%), lack of motivation (13.4%), work (12%), and economic difficulties (3.8%). Other personal reasons were reported by 5.7%. Motivation, training in diabetes management, importance the patient attributed to the disease, and self-efficacy were the variables that predicted adherence to self-care behaviors, together accounting for 32% of its variance. Anxiety and depression were highly prevalent in this study population (57.1% and 23.1%, respectively) and were associated with lower adherence.

Conclusion: In the present study assessing patients with type 1 diabetes, motivation, training in diabetes management, beliefs regarding the disease, and self-efficacy were the main contributors to adherence to self-care behaviors. On the other hand, anxiety and depression were highly prevalent and associated with lower adherence. Thus, supplementing therapeutic education with strategies designed to raise levels of motivation, discussion of beliefs about the disease, and encouragement of self-efficacy might be a useful way to increase patient involvement in self-care.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they do not have any competing interests related to the contents of this study.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Significant correlations between adherence to self-care and the rest of the variables. N = 428; ∗∗∗p < .001. Bonferroni correction was applied.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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