Perceptions of illness in patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Lucija Gosak, Mateja Lorber, Gregor Stiglic

Keywords: diabetes type 2 mellitus; disease perception; person-centred care

Background:

The perceptions and beliefs of individuals with diabetes type 2 and their knowledge influence is important for individual's health. The perception of the illness also associated with the quality of life and the state of the illness. Patients with chronic conditions require person-centred care to meet the patient's health needs and achieve better quality of life.

Research questions:

What is the perception of the illness in patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus?

Method:

A questionnaire Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (Broadbent, et al., 2006), which provides a rapid assessment of disease perception. The scale measures a patient’s cognitive and emotional representations of their illness, including consequences, timeline, personal control, treatment control, identity, compliance, care, emotional response, and causes. We have performed a categorical analysis for the highest stated cause of the disease.

Results:

In the research participated 141 people diagnosed with T2DM. The mean age of the participants was 63.08 (SD=12.96). The mean perception of T2DM score was 40.06/80 (SD=10.46), which does not reflect a very threatening view of the disease. A more threatening perception of the disease was held by participants who, in addition to diabetes, also reported obesity (41.08 vs. 40.78) and the presence of cardiovascular disease (42.10 vs. 41.15). The most important factors influencing their disease were heredity and genetics (n=33), stress and other psychological strains (n=24), and inadequate diet (n=23).

Conclusions:

Most of the respondents feel that they can influence their disease themselves, so it is important that they receive ongoing care and support from a nurse to change their behaviour and a person-centred individual approach. Most person-centred methods are developed targeting individual consultations, although group-based programs are a widespread and efficient method of support. Person-centeredness in group-based programs requires a change in practice towards addressing biopsychosocial issues and facilitating group processes which can lead to better perception of chronic disease.

Points for discussion: