Self-efficacy Affects Blood Sugar Control Among Adolescents With Type I Diabetes Mellitus

• Main Authors: An-Hsuan Chih, Chyi-Feng Jan, San-Ging Shu, Bee-Horng Lue
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2010-07-01
• Series: Journal of the Formosan Medical Association
• Subjects: adolescents; blood sugar; hemoglobin A1c; self-efficacy; type 1 diabetes mellitus
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0929664610600848

Self-management is crucial to diabetes control. To investigate the effectiveness of self-management in reaching target hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) level, we conducted a study among Taiwanese adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM). Methods: Patients aged 12–20 years with type 1 DM participated in an annual integrated DM care clinic at a medical center in Taiwan. All patients completed a questionnaire that included demographic data and self-efficacy measured by the Perceived Diabetes Self-Management Scale (PDSMS) in February 2008. Laboratory tests were also done at the same visit. The target HbA1c was < 7.0% in accordance with the general standard of the American Diabetes Association for patients with type 1 DM. Logistic regression analysis was used to explore the relationship between age, sex, duration of diabetes, PDSMS score, and HbA1c level. Results: Fifty-two patients were enrolled. The mean age was 16.0 ± 2.4 years, and mean HbA1c level was 8.6 ± 1.6%. Pearson correlation analysis showed a positive correlation between body mass index and preprandial blood sugar level (r = 0.297, p < 0.05). Negative correlations were found between PDSMS scores and duration of diabetes (r = −0.365, p < 0.01) as well as HbA1c level (r = −0.295, p < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that sex and PDSMS scores significantly influenced glycemic control. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, patients with higher PDSMS scores were 1.63 times (95% confidence interval = 1.03–2.59) more likely to reach target diabetes control after adjustment for other variables. Male patients also had a higher probability (odds ratio = 19.80, 95% confidence interval = 1.34–291.93) of reaching target diabetes control. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that adolescents with type 1 DM and higher self-efficacy, especially males, have a higher probability of reaching target diabetes control.