Women with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: Diabetes Self-Care, Diabetes Time Management, and Diabetes Distress

This descriptive correlational study examined the relationships between and among diabetes self-care, diabetes time management, and diabetes distress in women with type 2 (T2DM). A gap of knowledge exists between these variables and this study, guided by Orem’s self-care theory, aimed to identify these relationships and predictors of diabetes self-care. The sample (N = 188) was comprised of predominately White (81.4%) women recruited from multiple office locations, community hospitals, and diabetes support groups predominately from the Mid-Atlantic Region (64.04%). Participants voluntarily participated by responding to flyers posted in data collection locations or by electronic survey disseminated by diabetes support group newsletters. Participants completed three established survey instruments to measure the main study variables: the Diabetes Self-Management Questionnaire (DSMQ), the Diabetes Time Management Questionnaire (DTMQ), and the Diabetes Distress Scale (DSS). Survey responses were analyzed using several descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate analyses. Study results showed a strong inverse bivariate relationship between diabetes self-care and diabetes time management and a medium inverse relationship between diabetes self-care and diabetes distress. Additionally, diabetes time management and diabetes distress showed a moderate positive relationship. A multivariate model demonstrated that time management and diabetes distress explained 37.7% of the variance in diabetes self-care, F (2, 185) = 55.86, p \u3c 0.001. Diabetes time management was the strongest, statistically significant, unique contributor to explaining self-care (β = -0.56, p \u3c 0.001). The ANCOVA procedure showed that time management demonstrated a large effect size (0.300) and diabetes distress demonstrated a small effect size (0.016)