Self-Efficacy as a Predictor of Regimen Adherence in Self-Care of Non- Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus.

摘要

Self-Care is the most critical component of the non-insulin dependent diabetic's treatment regimen. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between perceived self-efficacy and demographic, disease-related, and behavior-related regimen variables. Data were collected from a sample of 27 individuals over a 2-month period who participated in the diabetes education program at a major military medical center. Subjects were given a self-administered questionnaire that included questions about regimen adherence and also included the Diabetes Self-Efficacy Scale, a 21-item Likert- type tool developed to measure self-efficacy in diabetics. Of the 27 participants, 11 reported that they had developed at least one complication that was directly related to the diabetes disease process. Self-efficacy in the complications group was found to be markedly lower than that of the noncomplication subsample. This is consistent with self-efficacy theory. While the study did not definitively answer the questions it set out to due to small sample size and over-reliance on self-reporting, the results support the value of further investigation. The research questions guiding this study were as follows: (1) What is the overall self-efficacy of the population addressed in this study; (2) What is the relationship between self-efficacy and demographic factors such as age, sex, marital status, and education; (3) What is the relationship between self-efficacy and disease-related factors such as duration of disease and self-reported presence of complications; (4) What is the relationship between self-efficacy and blood glucose levels using diagnostic tests such as Hemoglobin AlC or a current fasting blood sugar; and (5) What is the relationship between self-efficacy and behavior-dependent aspects of regimen adherence such as diet, exercise, medication, and general management of diabetes.