Social support, diabetes self-care, and depressive symptoms among diabetes patients struggling with glycemic control

Diabetes mellitus is on the rise in the United States with 8.3% of the population currently affected by the disease. High rates of depression are common among diabetes patients, complicating diabetes self-care. Inadequate self-care leads to impaired glycemic control and disease complications. Social support has been identified as a resource in managing diabetes self-care; however, associations among psychological distress, diabetes self-care, and social support are not often studied for adult patients with diabetes. The purpose of this study was to conduct a cross-sectional, secondary data analysis examining relationships among social support, diabetes self-care, depressive symptoms and diabetes-related emotional distress for 222 diabetes participants (49.5% with type 1 and 50.5% with type 2 diabetes) in poor glycemic control (HbA1c > 7.5%). The present study used data from the Joslin Diabetes Center to assess associations among these variables. Negative associations were found between social support and depressive symptoms as well as depressive symptoms and self-care. However, no relationship was found between social support and diabetes self-care. Therefore, the presence of depressive symptoms did not mediate the relationship between social support and diabetes self-care. Results from this study underscore the importance of considering psychosocial factors such as depressive symptoms, diabetes-related emotional distress, and the role of social support in diabetes treatment.