Combination of self-efficacy and perceived stress to predict self-management in youth with Type 1 Diabetes: Test of a non-compensatory model

Joint Event on 49^th World Congress on Advanced Nursing Research & 27^th International Conference on Clinical Pediatrics

June 10-11, 2019 Berlin, Germany

Jia Guo

Central South University, China

Keynote: J Nurs Care

Abstract :

Diabetes self-management is the key to attain desired control goals. Youth with type 1 diabetes experience special self-management challenges and a great amount of stress. Little research has examined the perceived stress faced by Chinese youth with type 1 diabetes, or explored the psychosocial correlates of their self-management. The purpose of this study was to: a) to determine if self-efficacy mediates the relationship between perceived stress and diabetes selfmanagement; and b) to explore whether perceived stress moderates the self-efficacy and diabetes self-management relationship.

Methods: Using a cross-sectional study design, the youth with type 1 diabetes were recruited from a diabetes clinic from January 2016 to December 2016 in Central South of China. Data on demographic and clinical characteristics, perceived stress, self-efficacy, and diabetes self-management were collected. Descriptive analyses and regression analyses were generated by SPSS Version 22. Structural equation modeling was implemented with the MPlus program.

Results: A total of 149 youth with a mean age of 13.9 years were investigated. There was no direct effect of perceived stress on diabetes self-management (p>0.05); however, self-efficacy mediated the relationship between perceived stress and diabetes self-management. Lower perceived stress was associated with better self-efficacy (r=-0.67; p<.01). The combination of high self-efficacy and low perceived stress shows better self-management than would be predicted from the main effects of self-efficacy and perceived stress alone.

Conclusions: Decreasing perceived stress and improving self-efficacy are important strategies to achieve optimal diabetes self-management. Ways to improve youths' self-efficacy and ability to cope with stress should be the primary goal of diabetes education for Chinese youth with type 1 diabetes to improve diabetes self-management.

Biography :

Jia Guo is an Associate Professor at Xiangya School of Nursing Central South University. She has been working as the Principal Investigator of many international and domestic grants in diabetes management and prevention.

E-mail: guojia621@163.com