Adherence to self‐care and social support

TLDR

The study aimed to describe adherence to self‑care, perceived difficulties, and social support among 213 insulin‑treated adults with diabetes in Northern Finland. Questionnaires assessed adherence, difficulties, and social support, and statistical analyses (ANOVA, logistic regression, contingency tables, Pearson correlations) were performed on the data. With a 76 % response rate, 20 % of participants neglected self‑care, others were flexible or regimen‑adherent, insulin treatment was generally well tolerated but other self‑care aspects posed problems, and poor metabolic control, smoking, and living alone predicted neglect unless family/friend support was present, while those with poor control reported peer support.

Abstract

The purpose of the study reported in this paper was to describe adherence to self-care, perceived difficulties and social support in a group of adult patients (n = 213) with insulin-treated diabetes from two outpatient clinics in Northern Finland. Data were collected by questionnaire. The instruments were developed to measure adherence to self-care, difficulties in self-care and social support. The response rate was 76%. One-way ANOVA, logistic regression analysis, contingency and Pearson's correlation coefficients were used in the statistical analysis. A fifth of the respondents were neglecting their self-care. The others undertook flexible, regimen-adherent or self-planned self-care. The subjects had no difficulties with insulin treatment, but had more problems with other aspects of self-care. Poor metabolic control, smoking and living alone predicted neglect of self-care, but if patients had support from family and friends, living alone was not a predictor of neglect of self-care. Those with poor metabolic control perceived themselves as getting peer support from other persons with diabetes.