Abstract
The present study examined the factors related to self-care behaviour in type 2 diabetic patients aged > or =65 years. In addition, this study tested the effect of the important explanatory factors on self-care behaviour. Along with the development of an ageing society, diabetes occurs frequently among older people. Diabetes requires continual medical treatment, with patients responsible for self-care. Although the relationships among social support, depression and self-care have been widely studied, little is know about older diabetic patients, especially in Taiwan. A correlational design was adopted. In total, 165 patients recruited using convenience sampling were diabetic outpatients at three hospitals in southern Taiwan from January-March 2005. The participants were interviewed using the Personal Resource Questionnaire 2000 (PRQ 2000), Diabetes Self-Care Scale and Taiwan Geriatric Depression Scale (TGDS). Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis. Self-care behaviour scores were significantly influenced by different gender, education level, economic status and religious beliefs of older diabetic patients. Depression and self-care behaviour were negatively correlated. Social support, education and duration of diabetes significantly affected self-care behaviour, accounting for 35.6% of total variance. CONCLUSIONS. Social support plays a vital factor in contributing to the facilitation of self-care behaviour. These analytical findings demonstrate the importance of social support, education and duration of diabetes in determining self-care behaviour for diabetic older diabetic patients and serve as references for future studies of self-care behaviour in type 2 older diabetic patients. Implication for nurses highlights the significance of providing patients with social support that will enable them to have good support systems during their disease treatment to enhance self-care abilities and improve quality of life.
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