ffect of Self-regulation Training on Management of Type 2 Diabetes
Jahanshir Tavakolizadeh,1 Mehri Moghadas,2,* and Hami Ashraf3
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Abstract
Background:
Diabetes is the most common metabolic disorder which is required to be taken under control. According to some studies, the impact of self-regulation on health has been considered as a monitoring strategy to achieve individual’s goals.
Objectives:
This study, which was performed in 2012, aimed at determining the consequences of self-regulation on controlling type 2 diabetes.
Patients and Methods:
In this double-blind clinical trial, 60 patients with type 2 diabetes - who were referred to Diabetes Clinic of Bisto-Dou Bahman Hospital in Gonabad, Iran - were divided randomly into case and control groups. Self-regulation questionnaire, nutritional information and physical activity checklists were completed by both groups once at the beginning and once at end of the training. Fasting blood sugar (FBS) of both groups were measured as well. Case group was trained for a month, whereas the control group received no special training. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 19 software, K-square and paired t-tests.
Results:
Comparing the case with the control group before and after the training showed that teaching patients self-regulatory strategies had significant impact on lowering blood sugar (-16.50 vs. -2.47, P < 0.001), observing dietary behaviors (5.97 vs. -0.87, P < 0.001) and increasing physical activities (6.2 vs. -0.73, P < 0.001) of the former group.
Conclusions:
Learning self-regulations has a role to play in controlling type 2 diabetes. Therefore, it is suggested to professionals in healthcare centers to educate patients about self-regulatory techniques and use them as auxiliary methods for keeping type 2 diabetes under control.
Keywords: Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2; Nutritional Sciences; Motor Activity
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1. Background
Type 2 diabetes is a metabolic disorder caused by insulin resistance and relative reduction of insulin production. Insulin resistance is defined as the diminished ability of cells or tissues to respond to the physiological concentrations of insulin (1). According to World Health Organization (WHO), prevalence of type 2 diabetes will have been increasing from 2.8 percent (177 million people) in 2000 to 4.4 percent (366 million people) by 2030 (2). According to cognitive-pandemic studies, prevalence rate of diabetes in Iran has been reported between 5% and 8%. Notably, 90% of the patients have diabetes type 2 and the other 10% have diabetes type 1. It is worth pointing out that nearly half the diabetic patients are not aware of their condition (3). In this regard once type 2 diabetes is diagnosed, it is expected that patients themselves take steps to regulate their disease. Such self-regulated learning skills include symptom management, treatment continuum, maintenance of healthy life style and daily control of complications. Regardless the severity of the disease, self-regulated learning also plays a key role in patients’ survival (4).
Given the nature of the disease and its complications, it appears that self-regulated learning is useful for people diagnosed with diabetes. Despite the importance of the disease prevention and the treatment, namely providing specific treatment strategies, there exist limited research on diabetes medication adherence. On the other hand, the findings on the decision making process in self-regulation training with regard to diabetes are not adequate (5). Fundamental structures of self-regulation learning skills involve the processes of goal-setting, planning to achieve the goals, monitoring them, comparing them with standards and changing the behaviors to improve performance (6). There are several major self-regulation models such as Pintrich and De Groot (7), Zimmerman (8), Carver & Scheier (9) and Bandura (10); however, it was Bandura self-regulation learning method which was employed in this study. Bandura believed that self-regulated training is the interaction between three components: self-observation, self-judgment and self-response, identified as:
- Self-observation: regular attention to the individual performance, self-proving and a factor to reach the goals,
- Self-judgment: regular comparison of individual performance with the existing standards and goals,
- Self-response: creating meaningful changes to achieve a goal (10, 11).
In his paper, Bandura pointed out that human beings observe divergent trends in health issues. Enormous resources are used to eliminate bad health habits. The conception of health is changing from a disease model to a health model. This model emphasizes more on health promotion rather than disease management. Bandura claims that health quality is deeply influenced by lifestyle habits and self-management (10). Notably, such changes are not possible without self-regulatory learning skills and its components. Various studies have been performed on self-regulatory skills along with trainings about physical and mental health. Some of these studies include self-regulated training and mental health (12), smoking (13), chronic pain (14), bulimia nervosa and regulatory disorder (15). In addition, some correlative studies have also been conducted on self-regulation training and diabetes (12, 16-18). In a research recently conducted on self-regulation training and diabetes, patients compared their condition with standard ones. When blood sugar was high, they did some certain physical activities to lower the blood sugar and reduce the symptoms. According to the findings, there was a significant relation among using insulin, disease symptoms and physical activities; however, no considerable relation was observed between metabolic control and the related symptoms (19). In another study, it was revealed that self-management had slight impacts on behavior change in diabetes. In this study, which proceeded for a year, self-management only resulted in certain modifications in FBS and Hemoglobin (20).
In Iran, similar studies have been performed in terms of the relation among self-regulated learning, eating attitudes and life style (21), effective factors on self-regulation of hypertension (22) and the impact of self-management on blood sugar control (23). The outcome of nutrition and walking trainings on controlling blood sugar (24) and the effect of dietary changes on FBS and body mass index (BMI) in patients with type 2 diabetes (25) have been also investigated in some other studies. The objectives the educational intervention programs are to examine how diabetics can be prevented, treated and controlled in a way that its complications be avoided more effectively (26).
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2. Objectives
This study in particular aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of self-regulation training to manage type 2 diabetes by focusing on 3 variables: lowering blood sugar, diet-observing and increasing physical activities in diabetic patients.
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3. Materials and Methods
The case under study was a double-blind clinical trial. One thousand, five hundred and sixty patients with type 2 diabetes - who were referred to Diabetes Clinic of Bisto-Dou Bahman Hospital (a general referral governmental hospital, with seven wards and 115 beds) in Gonabad, Iran - were included in this study during the year 2012. Samples were selected from patients who had diabetes for more than 4 years as well as those who participated in training sessions. The following patients were excluded from the study:
- Those who were not interested in participating in the study,
- Those who faced traumatic life events during the study such as loss of a close relative,
- Those who had major problems such as illness or living in a different place which make them not being able to participate in the training courses.
The sample size was calculated through the same method employed by Brown et al. in 2002 (20). Regarding fasten blood sugar difference between the two groups (37.52 mg/dL) with 95% confidence and the 80% power, the sample size was evaluated by comparing the means. Each group comprised of 30 patients, which make the sample size 60 in total. No patient was excluded and no data missed during the study.
3.1. Random Allocation
All the patients included in the study were registered in Diabetes Clinic of Bisto-Dou Bahman Hospital, Gonabad, Iran and they all had registration numbers. By using random allocation software, 30 patients were indiscriminately assigned to the case and 30 to the control group.
3.2. Intervention and Equipment
Self-regulation questionnaire, nutritional information and physical activity checklists were completed by both groups. FBS were measured by one auto-analyzer BT3000 twice for both groups once at the beginning and once at the end of the study, i. e. before and after the training program (27). The questionnaires were completed under the supervision of the research worker. All the instruments in the clinic were calibrated routinely. The case group received self-regulation. Ten sessions of 65 minutes were held for a month time in the form of direct instruction including lecture and group Q & A discussion. Bandura’s model was applied to teach self-regulatory training strategies to the case group. The training was based on self-observation, self-assessment, self-reflection (including behavioral, personal and environmental self-reflection) and making plans to achieve the goals. Training sessions were held in Diabetes Clinic of Bisto-Dou Bahman Hospital in Gonabad, Iran and self-regulated training was provided by clinical psychologists. Control group received no special training. No patient withdrew from the program and all the patients completed the treatment protocol. There was no missing data.
3.3. Statistics
Data were analyzed by SPSS version 19 software, K-square, paired t-test and student's t-test were used to test no