Effect of Self-management Training on Stress, Mental Health, and Self-Care Behaviors in Patients with Type II Diabetes

Diabetes is a chronic, progressive, and highly prevalent disease. The delivery of associated training to diabetic patients plays an important role in improving their living condition. As a result, the aim of this study was to determine the effect of self-management training on stress, mental health, and self-care behaviors in patients with type II diabetes.

The present semi-experimental study was conducted using a pretest-posttest design with a control group. The research population corresponded to a group of patients (n=60) with type II diabetes referring to the health care centers located in Varamin, Iran, in 2019. The study population was selected based on the eligibility criteria using the purposive sampling method and then randomly assigned into two equal groups. The research tools included the stress and mental wellbeing questionnaires and revised diabetes self-care behaviors scale. The data were analyzed in SPSS software (version 19) using the Chi-square test, independent sample t-test, and multivariate analysis of covariance.

The findings showed no significant difference between the intervention and control groups in terms of gender, age, marital status, and education level (P>0.05). Furthermore, there was no significant difference between the two groups at the pretest stage considering stress, mental health, and self-care behaviors (P>0.05). However, the results of the posttest stage revealed a significant difference between the research groups in terms of all three variables (P<0.001). In other words, self-management training led to the reduction of stress and enhancement of mental health and self-care behaviors in patients with type II diabetes (P<0.001).

The results of the present study were indicative of the effect of self-management training on decreasing stress and increasing mental health and self-care behaviors. Therefore, health experts and therapists in the field of diabetic patient health can use self-management training, along with other training methods, to improve the psychological condition of these patients.