Predictors of Self-Care Behaviors of Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

Diabetes has no definite treatment. The most important treatment strategy employed to control diabetes is adherence to self-care behaviors such as special diet، physical activity، blood glucose monitoring، daily foot care، and taking the prescribed medicine. This study aimed to assess rates of adherence to different dimensions of self-care behaviors and evaluate the predicting value of each dimension on glycemic control among type 2 diabetic patients under coverage of the Diabetes Clinic of Qom University of Medical Sciences (Qom، Iran). This cross-sectional، descriptive، analytic study was conducted on 275 randomized patients. Data was collected using the Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities (SDSCA) measure، a cognitive health questionnaire، and Beck Depression Questionnaire. Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) test was also performed. Data was analyzed through bivariate correlations and multivariate linear regression in SPSS17. The final regression model introduced education level، medicine taking behavior، nutrition، physical activity، and blood glucose monitoring as the main predictors. This model accounted for 66% of the variance of HbA1c level as a glycemic control indicator (P < 0. 001). Various dimensions of self-care behaviors of patients with type 2 diabetes have different impacts on metabolic control. Medicine taking and nutritional dimensions of self-care behaviors have the greatest effect on glycemic control.