Health Determinants in Italian Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2dm) Patients: A Critical Gender Differences Analysis

Abstract

Different studies described the important role of wellbeing, self-care and self-efficacy (i.e. health determinants) to achieve best health outcomes in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) patients. However, literature has paid little attention to highlight the possible gender differences related to the T2DM perception of those health determinants. For these reason, the aim of this study was to describe T2DM patients' gender differences related to their wellbeing, self-care and self-efficacy. This study was performed by a secondary analysis of data from a cross-sectional research, conducted in an outpatient setting in Northern Italy. Data was collected from March 2014 and July 2016 in a cohort of 115 T2DM outpatients, aged from 60 to 91 years (mean = 69.78 ± 7.11). Our results showed that men perceived more general wellbeing than women, and more diabetes specific self-efficacy. No differences seemed to be related to self-care. Indeed, the stratification by gender of the bivariate analysis allowed to identify many peculiarities related to wellbeing domains and self-efficacy. This study had a pioneering nuance in Italian assessment of T2DM health determinants, and it could have a number of future implications. Further empirical researches should provide more information to deeply understand the T2DM patients' peculiarities, which could help nurses to improve a personalized care delivery.

Self-care of liver, kidney and bone marrow transplant patients with diabetes

“…There is little research on gender differences related to selfcare behaviors in people with diabetes. A survey conducted in Italy [22] to describe self-care differences related to gender found that women exhibit self-care behaviors equal to or greater than men, in contrast to our findings. Another investigation [23] found that active male workers exhibited inadequate self-care behaviors more often than women, and low income was associated with inadequate self-care in women.…”

Socio-demographic and clinical determinants of self-care in adults with type 2 diabetes: a multicentre observational study

“…Poorer self-care management was associated with being male, being older, having a low income, being employed, and having missed diabetes education in the last year. Gender differences in self-care of T2DM patients were found in previous studies [46,47] in which men were shown to be less likely to perform adequate self-care than women. Similar results have been found in other chronic conditions [20,45].…”

Lived experience of patients inICUafter cardiac surgery: A phenomenological study

“…57 Finally, an interesting aspect recently studied in in-depth literature is gender differences. [58][59][60] Bjørnnes and colleagues investigated this scenario and discovered gender differences in pain that are present for up to 1 year following CS. 61 We think that the study of diversity in women and men experiences undergoing CS could be strategic to guide gender-targeted intervention, education, and management, which may lead to better patient outcomes.…”