Factors Predicting Self-Care Behaviors among the Elderly with Diabetes and Fasting Blood Sugar with Uncontrolled Condition in Surin province

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to study (1) self-care behaviors of elderly patients with diabetes who could not control their blood sugar levels, (2) predictable factors of self-care behaviors of elderly patients with diabetes who could not control their blood sugar levels. and (3) the effect of the health knowledge development program and encouraging home visits that affected self-care behaviors in elderly patients with diabetes who cannot control their blood sugar levels, Surin Province. The target population in this research was 14,918 elderly patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus aged 60 years and over in Surin province. The sample group was 375 people drawn from multistage random sampling. Three districts were selected for research by using purposive sampling. The districts with the highest, medium and lowest rates of the elderly with diabetes consisted of Phanom Dong Rak, Lamduan and Prasat districts, respectively. Data were collected by questionnaires with a confidence level of 0.96. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The research results revealed that (1) self-care behaviors of elderly patients with diabetes were moderate (2) The factors predicting self-care behaviors of the elderly with diabetes were diabetes knowledge (KLO), self-efficacy (SEE), and social support (SOS) were the factors which influencing the self-care behavior of the elderly. The knowledge about diabetes (KLO) had the highest coefficient of total effect size (β = 0.422). It could be assumed that the more understandable, the more self-care behavior. When considering the coefficient of reliability (R2) with the latent variables of self-care behavior in the elderly, it was found that diabetes knowledge (KLO), perceived self-efficacy (SEE) and social support (SOS) has the variance at 20.00% (R2 = 0.200). (3) Effects of health literacy development programs encouraging home visits that affect self-care behaviors among 26 elderly patients with diabetes who could not control their blood sugar levels, most of them were 69.20 percent female, with an average age of 64.72 years old. They graduated in elementary school, 57.70 percent, and 69.20 percent engaged in agriculture the most. The duration of diabetes is 5 years or more, 73.10% participated in the program according to the specified activities for 4 times in 4 weeks. It was found that overall health knowledge and diabetes, after joining the program, the increase is higher than before joining the program with the significant (p < 0.05). Self-care behaviors of the elderly, after joining the program, the increase is higher than before joining the program with the significant (p < 0.05)