Abstract
The aim of our study was to evaluate the disposition of individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) toward changing their nutritional and physical activity habits and associated factors—particularly their perceptions about interacting and communicating with four health professions. Working with a local patients’ association, we invited 364 individuals with DM2, all at least 18 years old, to complete a paper-based survey with questions addressing their experiences of interacting and communicating with general practitioners, nurses, dieticians and diabetologists and about their readiness to change targeted habits, their health literacy and their clinical status. Of the 109 questionnaires collected, 100 were eligible for descriptive and inferential statistical analysis. Regarding nutritional habits, the highest percentage of participants were at the maintenance stage (26%), whereas regarding physical activity habits the highest percentage of participants were at the preparation stage (31%). Significant differences between the habits emerged for four of the five stages and for two psychological processes. The precontemplation stage was most associated with communication-related variables, whereas the maintenance stage was associated with higher health literacy for both habits, and waist-to-height ratio was associated with several stages of change and psychological processes for physical activity habits. Considering aggregated stages (i.e., active or passive stage), significant differences were observed for all psychological processes except readiness to change nutritional habits. Logistic regression analysis revealed associations of the active stage with higher self-efficacy and lower discrepancy processes for both habits. Nutritional habits were associated with normal HbA1c values and physical activity habits with high cholesterol. Understanding the combination of the stages of change and how they relate to psychological processes can afford meaningful insights into the potential internal and external communication skills of health professions and should be examined as possible elements for a patient evaluation model.
Highlights
National and international associations and guidelines for caring for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) recognize the potential of and need for lifestyle and behavior changes as part of Healthcare 2020, 8, 524; doi:10.3390/healthcare8040524 www.mdpi.com/journal/healthcareHealthcare 2020, 8, 524 managing the disease [1,2,3,4]
Too little support seems to be provided by health professionals toward changing the nutritional and physical activity habits of patients with DM2, and their communication remains scarce and insufficiently centered on patients’ needs [9,10,11,12]
Among the notable results and as an example of how to read the results presented in the tables for participants in the precontemplation stage, the higher mean score obtained for males (52.2), as reported in Table 3a, differed significantly (p = 0.018) from that observed for females (38.0)
Summary
National and international associations and guidelines for caring for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) recognize the potential of and need for lifestyle and behavior changes as part of Healthcare 2020, 8, 524; doi:10.3390/healthcare8040524 www.mdpi.com/journal/healthcareHealthcare 2020, 8, 524 managing the disease [1,2,3,4]. Perhaps the greatest error is continuing to assume that providing people with information and talking to them about the negative consequences of their habits will drive them to change their behavior in their daily routines. Those authors have argued for rethinking the mode of working with individuals and the public by allowing patients to make decisions affecting their care and by motivating and empowering them to identify changes in their behavior that they want to prioritize
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
