Communication between health workers and patients:An Effective Factor in Living With Diabetes

Establishing an effective communication between health team professionals and diabetic patients is an important issue in living with type 2 diabetes. This study was conducted to assess communication between health workers as an obstacle in living with diabetes among type 2 diabetic patients referring to affiliated hospitals of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. This survey was a descriptive, analytic cross-sectional with 600 patients selected by a simple random method. Data were collected using a two part questionnaire including demographic information, health and disease related variables and HbA1C index (containing 10 questions) and communication of health workers with diabetic patients (containing 18 questions) which was measured by a five-level Likert scale [absolutely agree (5) to absolutely disagree (1)]. Validity and reliability of the questionnaire was verified. Questionnaires was filled by interview. SPSS software version 11.5 and descriptive statistical tests (mean and standard deviation) and inferential tests (chisquared, logistic regression model) were used for data analysis. Level of significance was assumed to be less than 0.05. Mean and standard deviation of communication between health workers and patients as an obstacle were 56.78± 7.17. Study results indicated that there were statistically significant relationships between sex(p<0.001), disease duration (p<0.001), level of education (p<0.001), type of treatment (p<0.001), occupation status (p<0.001), age categories (p<0.001), income status (p<0.001), marital status (p<0.001) and HbA1C index (p<0.001) and communication with health care as an obstacle. In addition results of the logistic regression model showed that the ratio of intensity of health worker communication as an obstacle was 0.38 times in 5-10 years and 1.32 times in more than 10 years diabetic patients compared to patients with less than 5 years disease duration. This ratio was significant in the group of diabetic patients with 5-10 years disease duration (p=0.004) and was effectively significant in intensity of health worker communication as an obstacle. Study results indicated that several factors affect communication between health workers and patients and the factor of years diabetic duration is related to ratio of the intensity of communication as an obstacle which can be helpful due to the planning health improvement interventions.