Self-care activities, sociodemographic variables, treatment and depressive symptoms among older adults with Diabetes Mellitus.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: to analyze the association between self-care activities of older adults with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (DM) and sociodemographic variables, type of treatment and depressive symptoms. METHOD: inferential and cross-sectional study, with 121 older adults with Type 2 DM in ambulatory care. We used a questionnaire for characterization of sociodemographic and health, questionnaire self-care activities with DM, Mini Mental State Examination and Geriatric Depression Scale. The association of variables was used (Fisher's exact test) and for comparing the means (Student's t-test and analysis of variance). RESULTS: The mean age was 68.1 years, the majority were women (57.2%), retired (71.9%) and married (65.3%). The highest averages were for the activities "to dry the spaces between the toes, after washing them" and smaller averages for "exercise". CONCLUSION: In spite of high average for self-care activities, there is a need for enhanced performance and compliance to them.