Abstract

RONDON, José Eduardo; CARDOZO, Irania  and  LACASELLA, Rosa. The influence of depression, communication styles and treatment adherence on glucose levels in diabetics. Act.Colom.Psicol. [online]. 2018, vol.21, n.2, pp.39-67. ISSN 0123-9155.  https://doi.org/10.14718/acp.2018.21.2.3.

The aim of the present research was to analyze the influence of depression, passive-assertive-aggressive communication styles and adherence to treatment over the glucose levels of subjects with Type 2 diabetes mellitus. Participants were 278 patients with a minimum of one year of having been diagnosed, selected through a purposive non-probability sampling, with ages ranging from 19 to 77 years old, with no amputations, nor comorbidity with nephropathy or diabetic retinopathy. A non-experimental investigation was developed through a cross-sectional design, establishing relationships between variables in a path analysis through multiple regression analyses. The instruments used were the Cuestionario Tridimensional para la Depresión (CTD, for its Spanish acronym) [Three-Dimensional Questionnaire for Depression]; the Autoinformes de Actitudes y Valores en las Interacciones Sociales (ADCAS, for its Spanish acronym) [Self Reports of Attitudes and Values in Social Interactions], and the Instrumento para Medir el Estilo de Vida en Diabéticos (IMEVID, for its Spanish acronym) [Instrument to Measure Diabetic Lifestyles] used to evaluate adherence to treatment. All of these instruments had been validated for the Venezuelan population. In addition, HbA1c was used to measure glucose level. Significant correlations between variables demonstrated to be low (oscillating between r -0.12 and r -0.33), except for two of them considered to be moderate (depression-assertive communication r -0,47 <p 0,05; and aggressive communication-assertive communication r -0,44 <p 0,05). Likewise, from the path analysis, it could be seen that none of the variables were statistically significant for the prediction of glucose levels. In regards to treatment adherence, the variable that contributed the most to the prediction was depression. Concerning the communication styles, negative, moderate and significant associations were observed between depression and assertiveness. No relationship was found between depression and aggressiveness and passiveness. In conclusion, only two of the established relationships through the path analysis were corroborated. Confirmation of these findings is suggested for future investigations.

Keywords : Depression; communication styles; treatment continuance; diabetes mellitus type 2.

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