Adjustment to Diabetes Among Diabetic Patients: The Roles of Social Support and Self-Efficacy

Controlling diabetes requires management of the relationship between the patient and the initial attention team. Social and environmental factors lead to lifestyle variations in relation to the health care, community support, and social support received. Theess areas have an effect upon patients’ self-organization and self-efficacy. Self-efficacy can be recognized objectively as one of the strongest predictors of a patient’s physical condition, causing behavior variations. It can be defined as an individual’s level of trust in his/her ability to adopt a particular kind of behavior. The aim of this study is to examine the roles of social support and self-efficacy in predicting the level of adjustment to living with diabetes in diabetic patients. In this cross-sectional study, we investigated the ability to predict diabetic patients’ adjustment to diabetes through analyzing levels of social support and self-efficacy. The population used for this survey was a random sample of 167 diabetic patients, who were dependent on insulin injections. The participants were 18 to 60 years old and had been members of the Iranian Diabetes Society since 2014. They were asked to complete Sullivan’s “adjustment to diabetes” test, and were examined using 1) Zimet’s Multidimensional Scale of social support and 2) the Coping Self-efficacy scale for confrontation of problems. Data analysis was performed using the SPSS (version 16) statistical software package, for which Pearson’s correlation test and the multiple regression method (linear method) were used. The data revealed that self-efficacy (P < 0.001) and social support (P < 0.001) are indicators than can significantly anticipate levels of adjustment in diabetic patients. Moreover, it has been revealed that self-efficiency plays a significant and, indeed, fundamental role in adjustment anticipation. It can be concluded that self-efficacy and social support are important in predicting the adjustment levels of diabetic patients. Furthermore, self-efficacy has a more potent function here than social support as it affects every individual’s self-confidence and quality of life.