Assessment of Self-care Practices and Role of Diabetes Distress Among Adult Diabetic Patients on Follow-up from North West India

Background: Diabetes Mellitus, a chronic illness, has emerged as a major public health problem on a global scale. The present study assessed self-care practices regarding Diabetes and the role of diabetes distress among adult diabetic patients who were on follow-up. Material & Methods: This cross- sectional study with 365 participants was conducted in a tertiary care teaching hospital in Jammu, J&K, India. The study tools included: (a) questionnaire on socio-demographic and clinical details (b) Summary of diabetic self-care activities (SDSCA) measure and (c) Diabetes Distress Scale (DDS). Pearson correlation was applied to find the relationship between variables. The tests of significance used were Chi square/Fisher’s exact test. Results: The findings revealed that emotional distress was moderate in 43.9% of respondents and most of the participants had little/no distress. Diet and blood sugar testing were the domains of SDSCA, which were found to be associated with diabetes distress. Variables significantly associated with adherence to self-care practices were educational status, Monthly family income, presence of comorbidities, treatment modality etc. Conclusion: This study underscores that the majority of the participants were adherent to medications. The role of sustained self-care education in mitigating diabetes distress can’t be more emphasized. Policy makers need to devise interventions like psycho-social support to address diabetes distress and promote sustainable self-care behavior.