The Relationships Among Social Support,self-perception Aging,and Self-management Behavior In Elderly Patients With Type 2 Diabetes

Objective: To describe the current status and characteristics of the self-management behaviors and to analysis the status of social support and elf-perception of aging in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes.Moreover,to explore the predictive effect of the self-management behaviors,self-perception of aging,and social support.Methods: From May 2016 to September 2016,a cross-sectional survey was conducted in 300 type 2 diabetes patients.The self-administered questionnaires included social-demographic questionnaire,social support scale,aging perceptions questionnaire,and type 2 diabetes self-management behavior scale,which measured demographics variables,the self-perception of aging in elderly,social support in elderly patients,and the type 2 diabetes self-management behaviors in type 2 diabetes,respectively.All the data statistic analysis were performed using SPSS 22.0.Results:(1)The total score of self-management behaviors in 251 elderly patients with type 2 diabetes was(86.98±9.63),and the score index was 66.91%.The score of medication compliance,exercise management,dietary management,foot self-care,high and low blood glucose treatment,and monitoring blood glucose were(12.42±2.04),(14.50±2.80),(21.02±3.43),(15.52±2.57),(12.06±2.88),and(11.47±4.36),respectively.The subscales of the self-management score indicators were 82.80%,72.50%,70.06%,62.08%,60.3%,57.40%,respectively.(2)The total score of social support in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes was(40.58±6.5).Subjective support score was(8.00±1.83);objective support score was(23.27±3.98);and support using degree of scores was(9.30±2.70).(3)The score of self-perception of aging subscales,the score of time line acute/chronic,timeline cyclical,consequences negative,consequences positive,emotional representations,control positive,and control negative was(3.10±0.70),(3.01±0.66),(2.99±0.74),(3.62±0.57),(2.60±0.83),(3.75±0.59),and(2.73±0.79),respectively.(4)There were significant differences in self-management by elderly patients with type 2 diabetes different genders,occupation,marriage conditions,education,living conditions,the level of average household monthly income,payment system in health care,recent fasting blood glucose level,and the number of times of hospitalization(p<0.05).(5)The Pearson correlation analysis showed that self-management behavior was significantly negatively correlated with the five subscales of self-perception of aging,time line acute/chronic,time line cyclical,emotional representations,negative control,and negative consequences,respectively(r=-0.419--0.586,P<0.01,P<0.05);was positively correlated with two subscals of positive control,and positive consequences(r=0.396,P<0.01;r=0.309,P<0.01).The social support had a positive correlation with self-management behaviors(r=0.413,P<0.01).(6)The Pearson correlation analysis showed that social support significantly negatively correlated with time line acute/chronic,time line cyclical,emotional representations,negative control,and negative consequences(r=-0.184--0.361,P<0.01,P<0.05),respectively;and had a positive correlation with positive control,and positive consequences(r=0.297,P<0.01;r=0.368,P<0.01).(7)The regression analysis of self-management behavior in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus showed that objective support,supportive utilization and negative control were the influencing factors of self-management behavior of elderly patients with diabetes mellitus,which could explain 51.2% of the total variation of self-management behavior.Conclusions:(1)Self-management behavior,social support,and,self-perception of aging in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes were both in the middle level.(2)Factors,such as gender,occupation,marriage conditions,education,living conditions,the level of average household monthly income,payment system in health care,recent fasting blood glucose level,and the number of times of hospitalization are the main factors affecting self-management behavior.(3)Self-management behaviors,social support,and self-perception of aging,were correlated with each other.Moreover,self-perception of aging and social support can predict self-management behaviors in elderly patients with diabetes.