The Relationship Between Hypoglycemic Confidence and Hypoglycemia Fear in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients

Abstract

Objective: This study aims to identify the relationship between hypoglycemic confidence and hypoglycemia fear in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients.
 Method: Designed as a descriptive and cross-sectional study, this research was conducted with 306 type 2 diabetes patients who visited the diabetes polyclinic to have an examination in period December 2021 and February 2022. The research data were collected by using the “Patient Identification Form”, the “Hypoglycemic Confidence Scale”, and the “Hypoglycemia Fear Survey”. Descriptive statistics, the Independent Samples t-test, the One-Way ANOWA test, the Pearson’s correlation test, and the linear regression analysis were used in the evaluation of research data.
 Results: In the research, 60.8% of the participant type 2 diabetes patients were female, their mean age was 55.14±8.10 years, and their mean duration of having the disease was 10.35±4.77 years. Means of type 2 diabetes patients’ Hypoglycemic Confidence Scale (HCS)’ score 1.65±0.47 and ‘Hypoglycemia Fear Survey (HFS)’ scores were 3.02±0.56 points. Type 2 diabetes patients’ HCS scores had moderately negative relationships with scores obtained by them from the HFS and its Behavior Sub-scale and Worry Sub-scale (p

Hypoglycaemic confidence levels and experiences related to the hypoglycaemia of patients with diabetes: A mixed methods study

“…These findings are supported by prior research (Brown et al, 2019;Gül et al, 2021;Menekli & Şentürk, 2022;Sheikhi et al, 2020;Wu et al, 2023). In the current study, the hypoglycaemic confidence levels of patients with diabetes were moderate, and the hypoglycaemic confidence levels of patients with fear of experiencing hypoglycaemia were lower.…”

“…The patients reported that hypoglycaemia affected their physiological, psychological and social lives. The physiological symptoms reported by the patients were similar to those reported in the literature, which include trembling, cold sweating, feeling of hunger, exhaustion, dizziness, tingling and numbness have been reported in patients with hypoglycaemia (Gül et al, 2021;Menekli & Şentürk, 2022;Sherifali et al, 2018;TSEM, 2022). Our quantitative data show that approximately one in every three people has a fear of experiencing hypoglycaemia.…”

“…Another study reported that patients who received education about hypoglycaemia had high hypoglycaemic confidence (Menekli & Şentürk, 2022). With an increase in the level of education, the ease of the learning process of the individual increases their awareness about diabetes and thus their control over hypoglycaemia (Brown et al., 2019; Menekli & Şentürk, 2022; Polonsky et al., 2017). It is important that diabetes education programmes are continuous, and the patients' educational needs are reassessed over time (McCall et al., 2023).…”

“…In the current study, the hypoglycaemic confidence levels of patients with diabetes were moderate, and the hypoglycaemic confidence levels of patients with fear of experiencing hypoglycaemia were lower. In another study, it was reported that as the fear of experiencing hypoglycaemia of patients with diabetes increased, their hypoglycaemic confidence level decreased (Menekli & Şentürk, 2022). It is expected that individuals who are afraid of experiencing a negative experience such as hypoglycaemia will feel more vulnerable.…”

“…A high level of hypoglycaemic confidence may increase individuals' ability to cope with hypoglycaemia and diabetes (Taking Control of Your Diabetes [TCOYD], 2020). The number of studies on hypoglycaemic confidence in the literature is very limited (Büyükkaya Besen & Dervişoğlu, 2021; Menekli & Şentürk, 2022; Ólafsdóttir et al., 2018; Polonsky et al., 2017; Takaike et al., 2023). Continuous glucose monitoring was found to increase hypoglycaemic confidence among adults with diabetes aged 20–75 years in a study.…”