Some people seem to almost effortlessly manage their type 2 diabetes well and keep their blood glucose successfully under control, while others struggle to manage.
Scientists from Arizona State University and University of Southern California wondered what the differences were between the two groups and decided to find out.
They have just published their study in the journal Diabetes Care.
They collected the information of 251 Hispanic adults, who were participating in a study to test the effectiveness of a Type 2 diabetes self-management program.
They were all in patient-centered medical homes at safety-net clinics in East Los Angeles and had shown symptoms of depression.
They measured their subject’s changes in depression symptoms and social and emotional support up to six months from the beginning of the study, and adherence to the diabetes self-management program and self-efficacy after six and 12 months.
Self-efficacy refers to our belief that we can achieve our goals. If we believe that we can, then we are more likely to sustain a course of behavior that leads us to our goals even through difficulties; if we believe that we cannot, then any obstacle can throw us off our required course of behavior and lead us to fail at our goals.
Those subjects whose depression levels declined were the most likely to experience an improvement in their levels of self-efficacy and in their adherence to their diabetes management program.
Those whose depression worsened experienced a decline in self-efficacy and in their ability to stick to the diabetes management program.
The finding regarding social and emotional support was confusing, as an improvement in those seemed to improve only their level of self-efficacy and not their adherence to the program and only at six months, not at 12 months.
Therefore, severely depressed people struggle more than the rest to manage their diabetes well and those who receive little social and emotional support may not feel like they are capable of maintaining self-management programs.
This is important as scientists have found that people with type 2 diabetes are more vulnerable to depression.
The key is of course to find a simple system you can use to reverse your type 2 diabetes. As you feel better, you believe that you can be cured is strengthen and so is your determination.