AH Chih et al. Self-efficacy Affects Blood Sugar Control Among Adolescents With Type I Diabetes Mellitus. Journal Formosa Medical Association, 2010; 109:503-510.

Self-management is crucial to diabetes control. To investigate the effectiveness of self-management in reaching target hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) level, Chih and associates conducted a study among Taiwanese adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM). Patients aged 12-20 years with type 1 DM participated in an annual integrated DM care clinic at a medical center in Taiwan. All patients completed a questionnaire that included demographic data and self-efficacy measured by the Perceived Diabetes Self-Management Scale (PDSMS) in February 2008. Laboratory tests were also done at the same visit. The target HbA1c was < 7.0% in accordance with the general standard of the American Diabetes Association for patients with type 1 DM. Logistic regression analysis was used to explore the relationship between age, sex, duration of diabetes, PDSMS score, and HbA1c level. Fifty-two patients were enrolled. The mean age was 16.0 +/- 2.4 years, and mean HbA1c level was 8.6 +/- 1.6%. Pearson correlation analysis showed a positive correlation between body mass index and pre-prandial blood sugar level (r = 0.297, p < 0.05). Negative correlations were found between PDSMS scores and duration of diabetes (r = -0.365, p < 0.01) as well as HbA1c level (r = -0.295, p < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that sex and PDSMS scores significantly influenced glycemic control. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, patients with higher PDSMS scores were 1.63 times (95% confidence interval = 1.03-2.59) more likely to reach target diabetes control after adjustment for other variables. Male patients also had a higher probability (odds ratio = 19.80, 95% confidence interval = 1.34-291.93) of reaching target diabetes control.

WHAT THE STUDY MAY MEAN TO YOU AS A HEALTH CARE PROVIDER: Chih and colleagues demonstrated that adolescents with type 1 DM and higher self-efficacy, especially males, have a higher probability of reaching target diabetes control.

WHAT THE STUDY MAY MEAN TO YOU AS A HEALTH CARE CONSUMER:
If you have type I diabetes, enrolling is a self-management program where self-efficacy is measured would seem a necessity. This would increase the likely of increased self-efficacy and permit a patient to better control his or her chronic condition. The difference between genders in self-efficacy is a topic that should be further explored.