Endocrine Abstracts

Background

The prevention of complications and improvement of metabolic control and state of health in diabetes cannot be effective only with medications. And now we need to develop different approaches – not only up to date pharmacological treatment of diabetes, but change the Self-Management Behavior among patients with Type 2 Diabetes.

Aims

To assess the current status of diabetic self-management behavior and the factors responsible for such knowledge among type 2 diabetes patients in Minsk, Belarus.

Methods

A correlational, exploratory, quantitative research design was utilized. We used the Diabetes Self-Management Questionnaire (DSMQ) and a questionnaire with free questions related to diabetes to investigate patients with T2DM from August to December 2020 in Minsk, Belarus.

Results

We enrolled a total of 206 patients in the present study. The median score of self-management behavior was 5.48 (10 maximum point), the interquartile range was 4.64–6.04 points. An analysis of subscale was: ’Glucose Management’ was 7.33 (6.00; 8.00) (P-value: < 0.001); ’Dietary Control’ 5.00 (3.33; 5.83) (P-value: < 0.001); ’Physical Activity’ 4.44 (2.22; 5.56) (P-value: < 0.001); ’Health-Care Use’ 5.56 (3.33; 6.67) (P-value: < 0.001). Answers for the 16 ^th item ’My diabetes self-care is poor’ were: ’Applies to me very much’ 27.20%; ’Applies to me to a consider-able degree’ 4.76%; ’Applies to me to some degree’ 33.80%; ’Does not apply to me’ 34.27%. Further, a correlation was made between the onset of the disease, the patient’s age, the degree of cognitive impairment, the average mean of hemoglobin A1c and DSMQ subscales.

Discussion

Self-Management Behavior in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes was negatively correlated with: the duration of the course of diabetes; the patient’s age; the degree of cognitive impairment; the existing disorders of carbohydrate metabolism.

Conclusion

There are a number of reasons that could affect on changes in Self-Management behavior. It is likely that the maximum Self-Management behavior changes are available to the patient in the early stages of the onset of type 2 diabetes. Given the limited capacity of any national health care system, it is worth paying attention to the possibility of making maximum efforts to change Self-Management behavior among patients in whom the period of diagnosis of diabetes mellitus is from 1 to 2 years.

Keywords: type 2 diabetes mellitus; DSMQ; Self-Management; Behavior; Self-care management; Eastern Europe.