Psychological adjustment to diabetes mellitus: highlighting self-integration and self-regulation

Abstract

Psychological adjustment to any chronic disease, such as diabetes mellitus, concerns self-view rearrangement toward self-integrity and self-regulation. Both distance between self and disease paired with positive and negative new identities may contribute to adaptation to diabetes. The present investigation aimed to detect main trends on self-management in patients with both diabetes types within a self-regulatory framework. Sample consisted of 121 adult patients with both diabetes types. Answer to question about having diabetes or being a diabetic was combined with self-benefices or self-damages concerning diabetes in a 2 × 2 combination. Psychological adjustment to diabetes, anxiety and depression were evaluated among subgroups. Almost 16% of patients had any benefit with diabetes and a better psychological adjustment than patients reporting losses. Type 1 diabetes answered more "being diabetic" and type 2 "having diabetes". Education was positively associated with profits with diabetes. Patients referring "to have diabetes" and profits had the best diabetes psychological adjustment. Distance between self and diabetes does not seem to relate to psychological adjustment. Type 1 diabetes patients are likely to identify more with their disease comparing with type 2 diabetes, independently from gains or losses associated with diabetes. Better psychological adjustment related to more education and positivity highlights future interest on working with gains in diabetes patient education, fostering patient self-growth, self-integration and resilience.

Do Clinical And Psychosocial Factors Affect Health-Related Quality of Life in Adolescents with Chronic Diseases?

“…Additionally, the results of the present research are in line with previous studies reporting the importance of such protective factors, namely psychosomatic health (Suris, Bélanger, Ambresin, Chabloz, & Michaud, 2011), resilience (Guilera, Pereda, Paños, & Abad, 2015;Helgeson, Reynolds, Siminerio, Becker, & Escobar, 2014;, self-regulation (Gois et al, 2012) and social support (Békési et al, 2011;Wu, Geldhof, Roberts, Parikshak, & Amylon, 2013). Resilience, social support, symptom's control and self-management may allow a good adaptation in adolescents, while facing adverse health conditions and potentially stressful new situations, and help to reduce stress, increase control and improve outcomes in HRQoL.…”

A cross-sectional survey of depression, anxiety, and cognitive function in patients with type 2 diabetes

“…Many studies have described depression and diabetes as comorbid conditions and explored the association of depression with metabolic variables [1][2][3][4]. It is not clear, however, which comes first.…”

“…Background Several reports suggest that people with diabetes are almost twice as likely to suffer from depression and anxiety as the general population [1][2][3][4]. Emotional problems may influence patient adherence to lifestyle and treatment recommendations, be associated with decreased quality of life, impaired self-care behaviors, and poorer glycemic control [5] and contribute to increase health care costs [2].…”

Experiencing and managing Type 1 diabetes mellitus for adolescents in Indonesia: An integrated phenomenology and indigenous psychological analysis

“…Illness representation research on people with diabetes showed a consistent result towards adherence (Mann, Ponieman, Leventhal, & Halm, 2009), successful self-management (Bean et al, 2007) as well as a good psychological adjustment (Gois et al, 2010). Individuals who have poor control over diabetes have a different illness representation compared to individuals with good control over diabetes (Keogh et al, 2007).…”