Abstract
•BMI, Diabetes knowledge, Psychosocial adaptation to diabetes, and the level of glucose explained 28% of the variance in Diabetes Self-Management Behaviors.•Almost half of the women in this study reported high level of emotional distress related to diabetes.•Half of the participants reported not receiving any kind of diabetes related education.•Almost 20% of the participants had high glucose level (HbA1C level > 8%).
Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) continues to be an escalating public health problem contributes to increased morbidity and mortality. Although the complications of T2D is a major threat to the health of women of Arab descent, there is lack of information about their health practices and diabetes self-management behaviors.
The purpose is to examine the impact of diabetes knowledge, social/family support, acculturation, and diabetes-related emotional distress on DSM behaviors and glycemic control among women of Arab descent utilizing the Roy Adaptation Model.
A non-experimental correlational descriptive design.
The BMI, Diabetes knowledge, diabetes-related emotional distress, and the level of HbA1C explained 28% of the variance in DSM behaviors. DSM behaviors were negatively related to diabetes-related emotional distress. DSM behaviors were positively related to diabetes knowledge and HbA1C.
The findings of this work provided a foundation for further advanced research design including experimental designs to expand the knowledge of this phenomenon and how to manage this disease successfully yet a culturally appropriate method.