Assessment of some predicting factors of self-efficacy in patients with type 2 diabetes

Increasing patient empowerment in order to improve diabetes self-care plays an important role in disease control. One of the most important measures/steps in this field is promoting patients' self-efficacy which can lead to greater participation of the patient in treatment and prevention of serious complications in patients. The purpose of this study hence was to determine the predictors of self-efficacy for self-care behavior in patients with type II diabetes In order to plan educational interventions in health promotion strategies. This is a descriptive study conducted on 187 diabetic patients referred to Hazrat Ali diabetes clinic in Isfahan, using the convenience sampling method. Health literacy, self-efficacy and diabetes knowledge in patients were assessed by standard questionnaires i.e FCCHL, DMSES and DKQ respectively. The data collected was analyzed, using descriptive and inferential statistics by means of SPSS vr.17 software. There was a statistically significant association between functional, communicative, and critical, health literacy and diabetes knowledge with patient's self-efficacy for diabetes self-care. Pearson's correlation coefficient revealed that all of these factors had a linear and direct relationship with self-efficacy and the predictive power [R2] was equal to 0.37. Functional health literacy is a better predictor of self-efficacy for self-care behaviors in diabetic patients. Considering the importance of self-efficacy in educational interventions for improving diabetes self-care, well documented in various studies, raising patient levels of knowledge and health literacy as predictors affecting self-efficacy is imperative