The correlation between family support and health status in patients with diabetes mellitus

Introduction: The health status of a patient is strongly influenced by the family members because they play an important role during the health care process, and in healthy living. This implies that they must be involved in decision-making and therapeutic actions at every stage of the treatment. Therefore, this study aims to determine the relationship between family support and the health status of diabetes mellitus patients in Malang. Design and Methods: This study used a descriptive correlational design with a cross-sectional approach, which was carried out by filling questionnaires to determine the relationship between family support and the health status of diabetes mellitus patients. The sample population consists of 327 diabetes mellitus patients and 327 family caregivers of patients with the disease. Meanwhile, the respondents were selected through a cluster random sampling technique. Results: The results showed that 62.7% of the caregivers provided a good family support, while 90.8% of the patients have a good health status. This indicates that there is a positive correlation between family support and the health status of people with the disease (p-value= 0,000, α<0.05, r= 0,400). Conclusions: Further studies are advised to explore the use of nursing interventions as an effort to maintain and improve the ability of families in providing long-term care for members with diabetes mellitus.