Abstract:
Self-management is a vital element in the care of type 2
diabetes patients. In turn, self-efficacy plays a major role in patients’ self-management.
Self-efficacy is the patient’s personal judgement of his/her
confidence in performing aspects of diabetes self-management. This
study investigated the level of self-efficacy of patients attending the
Pretoria Academic Hospital Diabetes Clinic, in the light of high levels of
re-admission due to complications, suggesting low self-efficacy levels.
Eighty type 2 diabetes patients, mean age of 59 years, completed the
published IDEALL baseline questionnaire, to establish a self-efficacy
score. Relationships between self-efficacy and demographic factors were
investigated using the chi-square test. The mean self-efficacy level of the
sample population is excellent (mean = 85.44%).
Although self-reported self-efficacy levels are excellent, in comparison to the Sarkar study (2006) in which participants only scored “fair”, it is speculated that self-efficacy is not transferred to self-management behaviour in this
population. Afrikaans and English speaking participants score significantly better than those from other language
categories. There is a positive relationship between self-efficacy and level of education and employment status (tended
towards significance with p values of 0.06 and 0.07 respectively). Although self-efficacy scores of clients at this
tertiary level outpatient clinic are excellent, further research is necessary to quantify self-management strategies and
to correlate these with self-efficacy levels.
