Introduction

Although science has discovered several factors involved in diabetes self-care, there are still some gaps especially regarding self-care behaviors among people with different socioeconomic statuses. The objective of this study is to identify adherence to diabetes self-care and its correlation with sociodemographic, clinical and psychosocial factors among users of the supplementary health system in Sao Paulo.

Materials and Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted with 214 participants who had type 2 diabetes by using the Brazilian versions of the Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities Measure, Diabetes Attitudes Scale and Diabetes Empowerment Scale. A multiple linear regression model (backward stepwise regression) was used to delineate the correlations between variables.

Results

Participants showed moderate adherence to general self-care. Factors such as being a woman, being married/in a stable union, being retired, having been diagnosed for a longer time and showing a more positive attitude towards diabetes explained 93.0% of the variance in general self-care.

Discussion

This is an unprecedented study in the characterization of diabetes self-care among users of the supplementary health system in Brazil. Although the results are similar to those of national and international studies, they suggest that, given the complexity of the disease, diabetes self-care is constantly neglected and more training is required among healthcare professionals to address related psychosocial factors.

Conclusions

The results suggest that educational interventions for the promotion of diabetes self-care should be developed taking into account the sociodemographic and clinical profile of the participants, as well as the promotion of self-efficacy to decrease negative attitudes towards diabetes.

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