The Relationship between Depression, Self-Care Activity and HbA1c in Clients with Type-2 Diabetes Mellitus

Kim, Sun Hyang; Kang, Hee Sun

Abstract

PURPOSE: This study was done to investigate the relationship between depression, self-care activity and HbA1c in clients with type-2 diabetes mellitus (DM) clients. METHOD: This was a cross sectional descriptive study and data were collected between October 4 and 27, 2006 using a questionnaire. The participants were inpatients and outpatients with type-2 diabetes being seen in one of two hospitals. The questionnaire included general as well as disease related characteristics, a depression scale (CES-D), and the self-care activity scale developed by Kim (1996). HbA1c was obtained from medical records.
RESULTS
There were 50 men (41.7%) and 70 women (58.3%). The mean scores for depression and self-care activity were 18.22+/-10.03 and 3.51, respectively. Almost half of the participants (46.7%) had an HbA1c greater than 7%. Self-care activity was negatively correlated with depression (r=-.436, p=0.00) and HbA1c (r=-.269, p=0.03). Depression was positively correlated with HbA1c (r=-.325, p=0.00). Participants who had diabetes education showed a significantly lower level of HbA1c than the group who had never had diabetes education.
Conclusions
It is important to make ensure that patients with diabetes have education on diabetes mellitus and to screen and manage depression as part of the care for these patients.