Relationship between depression and knowledge about diabetes with the amount of self-care in patients with type 2 diabetes

Evidence suggests that self-care diabetes is one of the most important strategies for controlling the disease. Since it is required to assess the relationship between knowledge and depression with self-care in patients with diabetes mellitus, the aim of this study was to determine the relationship between depression and knowledge about diabetes with the amount of self-care in patients with type 2 diabetes.
In this cross-sectional study, 145 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus were studied in Semnan Kowars Hospital. Data collection was performed with questionnaires demographic information, Beck depression, Audit of Diabetes Knowledge (ADKnowl) and Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities (SDSCA).
20.7% of patients had mild depression, 42.1% had moderate depression and 13.8% had severe depression. Overall, 76.6% of patients had a degree of depression (score of 10 or higher). The severity of depression had a significant relationship with marital status (P=0.004), education level (P=0.003), place of living (P=0.021), residential status (P=0.045) and age (P=0.002). The mean ± SD of knowledge was 14.5±2.8. Knowledge have a significant relationship with the variables sex (P=0.027), marital status (P=0.027), education level (P=0.009), occupational status (P=0.043). Mean ± SD of self-care was 23.1±5.9. Self-care had no significant relationship with any of the demographic characteristics. There were not a significant correlation between depression and knowledge (r=0.077, P=0.3555), depression and self-care (r=0.050, P=0.551) and self-care and knowledge (r=0.065, P=0.434).
The findings of this study showed a high prevalence of depression, moderate knowledge and low self-care in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Since knowledge and depression were not significantly correlated with self-care, the factors related to self-care in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus should be studied more widely, so that the identification of its related factors can be used to control the disease and its complications.