Diabetes empowerment and needs for self-management support among people with type 2 diabetes in a rural inland community in northern Sweden.

BACKGROUND: Self-management among people with T2D includes being responsible for attaining a blood sugar level within the normal range, eating healthy food, exercising and following prescriptions for medication, something that may need support. In rural areas, access to health care may be limited, and support from family members becomes important. AIM: The aim of this study was to describe perceptions and associations of diabetes empowerment, self-management ability and needs of self-management support among people with T2D in a northern rural community of Sweden. METHOD: People with T2D (n = 159) living a rural municipality in northern Sweden answered the SWE-DES-23 questionnaire and additional questions concerning self-management and needs for self-management support. RESULTS: A higher diabetes empowerment was associated with longer diabetes duration and support from healthcare professionals and relatives. Women rated a need for self-management support significantly higher than men did. Nonretired persons rated a significantly higher need for self-management support and a lower perception of support from healthcare professionals compared to retired persons. Cohabitant persons had a significantly higher perception of support from relatives and also estimated a higher need for relatives' involvement in clinical visits compared to persons living alone. Both the newly diagnosed and also those people with a diabetes duration of 10-15 years rated a higher need for group support. Higher self-awareness and readiness to change were apparent among people with short and long diabetes duration. Furthermore, self-management ability, support from healthcare professionals and from relatives and lastly diabetes duration was associated with diabetes empowerment. CONCLUSION: Not only people newly diagnosed with T2D should be offered patient-centred group support, strengthening patient empowerment. For future, family-focused care and education and training in person-centred care among diabetes specialist nurses is recommended.

Characterizing Diabetes Empowerment and Motivation for Changing Health Behaviors Among People with Type 2 Diabetes: A Cross-Sectional Survey.

INTRODUCTION: Effectively engaging people with type 2 diabetes (T2D) earlier in their health journeys is critical to prevent downstream complications. Digitally based diabetes programs are a growing component of care delivery that have the potential to engage individuals outside of traditional clinic-based settings and use personalized data to pair people to tailored diabetes self-management interventions. Knowing an individuals' diabetes empowerment and health-related motivation can help drive appropriate recommendations for personalized interventions. We aimed to characterize diabetes empowerment and motivation towards changing health behaviors among participants in Level2, a T2D specialty care organization in the USA that combines wearable technology with personalized clinical support. METHODS: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among people enrolled in Level2 (February-March 2021). Distributions of respondent-reported diabetes empowerment and health motivation were analyzed using Motivation and Attitudes Toward Changing Health (MATCH) and Diabetes Empowerment Scale Short Form (DES-SF) scales, respectively. Associations between MATCH and DES-SF scores with Level2 engagement measures and glycemic control were analyzed. RESULTS: The final analysis included 1258 respondents with T2D (mean age 55.7 ± 8.4 years). Respondents had high average MATCH (4.19/5) and DES-SF (4.02/5) scores. The average MATCH subscores for willingness (4.43/5) and worthwhileness (4.39/5) were higher than the average ability subscore (3.73/5). Both MATCH and DES-SF scores showed very weak correlations with Level2 engagement measures and glycemic control (ρ = - 0.18-0.19). CONCLUSIONS: Level2 survey respondents had high average motivation and diabetes empowerment scores. Further research is needed to validate sensitivity of these scales to detect changes in motivation and empowerment over time and to determine whether differences in scores can be used to pair people to personalized interventions.

Empowerment and Knowledge as Determinants for Quality of Life: A Contribution to a Better Type 2 Diabetes Self-Management.

The purpose of this study was to assess how knowledge and empowerment impact the quality of life (QoL) of a person with type 2 diabetes, leading to better communication and disease management. We conducted a descriptive and observational study of individuals with type 2 diabetes. The Diabetes Empowerment Scale-Short Form (DES-SF), Diabetes Knowledge Test (DKT), and EQ-5D-5L were used, in addition to sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. Evaluating the variability in the DES-SF and DKT in relation to the EQ-5D-5L and identifying possible sociodemographic and clinical determinants were conducted using univariate analyses followed by a multiple linear regression model to test whether the factors significantly predicted QoL. A total of 763 individuals were included in the final sample. Patients aged 65 years or older had lower QoL scores, as well as patients who lived alone, had less than 12 years of education, and experienced complications. The insulin-treated group showed higher scores in DKT than the non-insulin-treated group. It was also found that being male, being under 65 years of age, having no complications present, and having higher levels of knowledge and empowerment predicted higher QoL. Our results show that DKT and DES are still determinants of QoL, even after adjusting for sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. Therefore, literacy and empowerment are important for the improvement of the QoL of people with diabetes, by enabling them to manage their health conditions. New clinical practices focused on education, increasing patients' knowledge, and empowerment may contribute to better health outcomes.

Empowerment of patients with type 2 diabetes: current perspectives.

Patient empowerment is a continuous process in which knowledge, motivation, and capacity to take control of their disease are built within a person. This concept is not always well understood and applied. This review describes the strategies to induce empowerment in patients with diabetes. In addition, the most common scales used to evaluate empowerment in diabetes is described. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the empowerment-based interventions for improving metabolic control and diabetes knowledge are described. Finally, we discuss opportunities for empowerment implementation in clinical practice and current needs on research that can be translated into public policies.

The psychosocial self-efficacy in adolescents with type 1 diabetes.

AIM: To analyse psychosocial self-efficacy in adolescents with type 1 diabetes, evaluate associations between self-efficacy and metabolic control and background variables and determine psychometric properties of the Finnish Diabetes Empowerment Scale (Fin-DES-28). DESIGN: A descriptive correlational survey. METHODS: The data were collected with the Finnish Diabetes Empowerment Scale from 13-16-year-old adolescents with type 1 diabetes (N = 189, 34%) in one university hospital district area in 2014. RESULTS: The level of psychosocial self-efficacy was quite good. The highest scores were in managing the psychosocial aspects of diabetes, followed by assessing dissatisfaction and readiness to change and setting and achieving diabetes goals. The self-efficacy did not correlate with metabolic control or background variables. A positive association was found between self-efficacy and understanding of diabetes and its treatment, adjustment of diabetes to life and the relationship with the doctor and the nurse. The internal consistency of the Finnish Diabetes Empowerment Scale was adequate. The low response rate limits generalization.

Diabetes empowerment scores among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients and its correlated factors: A cross-sectional study in a primary care setting in Malaysia.

BACKGROUND: There are limited studies on diabetes empowerment among type 2 diabetes patients, particularly in the primary care setting. AIM: To assess the diabetes empowerment scores and its correlated factors among type 2 diabetes patients in a primary care clinic in Malaysia. METHODS: This is a cross sectional study involving 322 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) followed up in a primary care clinic. Systematic sampling method was used for patient recruitment. The Diabetes Empowerment Scale (DES) questionnaire was used to measure patient empowerment. It consists of three domains: (1) Managing the psychosocial aspect of diabetes (9 items); (2) Assessing dissatisfaction and readiness to change (9 items); and (3) Setting and achieving diabetes goal (10 items). A score was considered high if it ranged from 100 to 140. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 25 and multiple linear regressions was used to identify the predictors of total diabetes empowerment scores. RESULTS: The median age of the study population was 55 years old. 56% were male and the mean duration of diabetes was 4 years. The total median score of the DES was 110 [interquartile range (IQR) = 10]. The median scores of the three subscales were 40 with (IQR = 4) for "Managing the psychosocial aspect of diabetes"; 36 with (IQR = 3) for "Assessing dissatisfaction and readiness to change"; and 34 with (IQR = 5) for "Setting and achieving diabetes goal". According to multiple linear regressions, factors that had significant correlation with higher empowerment scores among type 2 diabetes patients included an above secondary education level (P < 0.001), diabetes education exposure (P = 0.003), lack of ischemic heart disease (P = 0.017), and lower glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Diabetes empowerment scores were high among type 2 diabetes patients in this study population. Predictors for high empowerment scores included above secondary education level, diabetes education exposure, lack of ischemic heart disease status and lower HbA1c.

Associations between patient characteristics, social relations, diabetes management, quality of life, glycaemic control and emotional burden in type 1 diabetes.

AIM: The objective was to investigate associations between emotional burden and a number of individual variables: patient characteristics, social relations, diabetes management in everyday life, generic quality of life and glycaemic control, including determining to what extend these variables explain the differences in emotional burden in a large Danish population of people with type 1 diabetes. METHODS: We analysed a cross-sectional survey of 2419 Danish adults with type-1 diabetes mellitus and data from an electronic patient record. Data were analysed using hierarchical regression of factors of interest with emotional burden of diabetes as the dependent variable. RESULTS: High emotional burden of diabetes was associated with being female, younger age, other chronic illness, low diabetes-specific support, low generic quality of life, low diabetes empowerment and high Hba1c. Low diabetes empowerment, low generic quality of life and low diabetes-specific support were associated with the largest difference in emotional burden level. CONCLUSIONS: A variety of psychosocial and behavioural factors such as low social support, low generic quality of life and difficulties in managing diabetes are associated with high emotional burden in type-1 diabetes. These findings may call for an expansion of the effort to decrease the emotional burden of diabetes for those who are heavily burdened. Future research should explore the causality of the explored associations as well as potential subgroup differences in order to guide the development of appropriate interventions.