Psychological variables make a unique and statistically significant contribution to the explanation of differences in both physiological and emotional diabetes outcomes. Potentially, modification of personal views about diabetes could help promote positive health outcomes for people with type 2 diabetes. This study highlights specific illness perceptions that could be targeted in future interventions.

Background: While the prevalence of diabetes-related distress is now well recognised, less is known about how best we might intervene to reduce distress. Effective clinical interventions require a good understanding of the factors responsible for creating elevated distress about diabetes. At present there is a dearth of scientific information in this area. Aims: The aim of the present study was to identify cognitive patterns that may contribute to elevated distress among people with type 2 diabetes. It was predicted that cognitive illness perceptions would explain variance in diabetes-related distress. Participants: Research participants were randomly selected from a medical database held in Wellington, New Zealand. Method: Data was collected via mailed questionnaire survey (n=113). Results: It was hypothesised that cognitive illness perceptions would account for a significant proportion of the variance in diabetes-related distress. Results supported this hypothesis. Cognitive variables were found to explain approximately 34% of the variability in diabetes distress (p<0.001), when controlling for age. Conclusions: Research findings highlight two cognitive variables that may play an important role in diabetes distress: (1) a perception that diabetes symptoms fluctuate in cycles, and (2) an expectation that diabetes will have serious life consequences. These findings identify particular cognitive patterns that could form the basis for intervention targets, and might be useful for clinicians and researchers with an interest in reducing the incidence of diabetes-related distress. Findings also highlight the need for careful discussion of diabetes complications in clinical practice.