Influence of perceived health provider communication, diabetes duration and age at diagnosis with confidence in diabetes self-care.

Introduction: Several factors influence individuals' confidence to perform diabetes-related self-care activities, including perceived patient-provider communication, diabetes duration and age at diagnosis. It has been well-documented that patient-provider communication is essential when managing chronic diseases such as diabetes; however, the impact of this communication with diabetes duration and age at diabetes diagnosis on confidence in performing self-care behaviors is obscure.

Research design and methods: We utilized data from the 2021 Household Component of the Medical Expenditure Survey among participants 18 years or older who had completed the Diabetes Care Survey. Ordinal logistic regression models were utilized to assess the association between confidence in performing diabetes self-care (outcome) and perceived communication with healthcare providers (exposure). Age at diabetes diagnosis and diabetes duration were secondary exposures of interest.

Results: 1231 participants were included in the analyses. In primary analyses, we observed that greater perceived healthcare provider communication resulted in greater confidence in diabetes self-care (OR (95% CI) 1.14 (1.08, 1.21)). Results also showed that patients who were diagnosed at older ages have less confidence in managing their diabetes than patients diagnosed at younger ages (OR (95% CI) 0.93 (0.88, 0.99)); correspondingly, longer diabetes duration was associated with greater confidence in diabetes self-care (OR (95% CI) 1.09 (1.01, 1.17)).

Conclusions: Confidence in self-care is greatly influenced by perceptions of patient-provider communication, age at diagnosis and diabetes duration. Specifically, having healthcare providers clearly explain things to patients is vital to increasing diabetes self-care. Because self-care is important when managing chronic diseases such as diabetes, future studies should tailor interventions for optimal outcomes.