The Influence of Family/Social Support on Adherence to Diabetic Therapy

Abstract

Diabetes is one of the major concerns in the third millennium, affecting more people every day. It is a chronic disease that currently has no cure but can be controlled. In order to manage and control diabetes successfully, patients must adhere to treatment regimens that include dietary restrictions, physical activity goals, and self-monitoring of glucose levels. Numerous factors affect patients’ ability to adhere properly, the example is self-efficacy, treatment expectations, health beliefs, and lack of social support. Consequently, diabetes management can be quite complex, requiring lifelong commitment and drastic changes to the patient’s lifestyle. This study was descriptive and crosssectional in design. It was done in the outpatient clinic of a tertiary health facility in a rural area of Edo state, Nigeria. Confirmed diabetic patients who were on treatment, who were 18 years and above, and who attended the outpatient clinic during the study period, were enrolled for the study after obtaining an informed consent from them. A semi-structured, interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to obtain relevant information from them. The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MDSPSS) was used to assess the level of social support the respondents receive from family and friends. The Morisky Medication Adherence Scale-8 (MMAS) was used to assess the level of adherence to medication. Data were collated and analyzed using the IBM-SPSS version 21.0 The mean age of the respondents was 56 ± 11.495 years, with most of the respondents (63.9%) aged 46-65 years, and with more females than males. About 48.8% were found to have high social support, 40.5% had moderate support, while 10.8% had low social support. Most of the respondents (70.9%) had low adherence, 19.6% had moderate adherence, while 9.5% had high adherence. There was the significant association between social support and medication adherence, social support, and clinic attendance, social support and BMI, but no significant association between social support and blood sugar level. Since social support can predict health-promoting behavior, it can also predict self-care behavior of patients with DM. Therefore, getting the family members, especially the spouse, involved
in self-care behavior can be of significant importance in providing health care to patients with diabetes.