Determinants of Self-care Behaviors in Diabetic Patients in Yazd: An Application of the Protection Motivation Theory

Background: Diabetes is an increasingly important public health concern. Self-care behaviors should be improved to help diabetic patients better control the disease, highlighting the importance of understanding the factors that affect a diabetic patient’s self-care behaviors. Therefore, the goal of the present study was to determine factors related to self-care behaviors in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) using the protection motivation theory (PMT). Methods: In general, 160 type 2 diabetic patients referring to Yazd Diabetes Research Center were randomly selected and included in this analytical cross-sectional study. The data were gathered by a reliable and valid questionnaire, which is a summary of a multi-question questionnaire. It included PMT constructs and demographic information through interviewing the patients. Finally, data were analyzed using t test, ANOVA, linear regression, and Pearson correlation tests. Results: The mean age of the patients and the mean self-care behaviors were 55.87±9.62 years and 37.56±12.94, respectively. In the regression model, perceived susceptibility (β=0.294, P<0.001) and protection motivation (β=0.247, P=0.003) were significant predictors of diabetes self-care behaviors. This model was able to explain 20% of the variance of these behaviors. Conclusion: PMT is effective in recognizing the determinants of diabetes self-care behaviors; therefore, to increase patients’ motivation to adopt diabetes self-care behaviors, a framework similar to this theory can be used to design educational programs. It is suggested that other studies in the field of self-care be conducted with other educational models in different populations of patients, and their results be compared accordingly.