Identifying a motivational process surrounding adherence to exercise and dietamong adults with type 2 diabetes

Objectives: This paper aims to provide physicians with knowledge about the motivational processessurrounding exercise and diet for patients with type 2 diabetes and to offer patient support measures tofavor self-management. To respond to this objective, the links between two kind of motivators (i.e., promotionand prevention foci), the Selection, Optimization and Compensation (SOC) self-management strategy, andadherence to exercise and diet of patients with type 2 diabetes were investigated for the first time in theliterature.Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 491 French volunteer participants with type 2diabetes diagnosed for at least 3 months (Age = 61.66 ± 9.63; BMI = 29.8 ± 5.9). Participants completedan online self-report survey measuring SOC strategy, promotion and prevention foci, and adherence toexercise and diet.Results: The main results of path and bootstrapping analysis demonstrated that promotion focus waspositively related with SOC strategy (β = .69, p < .001) whereas prevention focus was not (β = −.01, ns.).On the other hand, SOC strategy was positively related with exercise (β = .20, p < .05), general diet(β = .49, p < .001), fruit and vegetable consumption (β = .27, p < .001), and spacing of carbohydrates(β = .40, p < .001), and mediated the positive link between promotion focus and these behaviors(bootstrapped 95% CI: [.11; .40], [.52; .81], [.22; .54], [.37; .70], respectively).Conclusion: This paper addresses a gap in previous research by evidencing a motivator that promotesself-management for exercise and diet among patients with type 2 diabetes. Our results suggest thatphysicians should privilege an interaction with patients oriented toward promotional motivation so asto favor their patients’ self-management regarding exercise and diet