Social Support, Self-efficacy, and Outcome Expectations

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships of psychosocial variables (social support, self-efficacy, and outcome expectations) to diabetes self-care behaviors and glycemic control in Caucasian and African American adults with type 2 diabetes. METHODS: Study participants were scheduled for outpatient visits at 1 of 3 clinical sites in the southeastern United States. All 91 participants completed 4 self-report measures: Social Support Questionnaire (SSQ), Self-efficacy Questionnaire (SEQ), Outcome Expectancy Questionnaire (OEQ), and The Diabetes Activities Questionnaire (TDAQ) at the time of the clinic visit. Long-term glycemic control was assessed by glycosylated hemoglobin analyses at the time of the clinic visit. Pearson product-moment correlations were used to determine whether significant relationships existed between scores on the SSQ, SEQ, OEQ, and TDAQ and glycosylated hemoglobin values. Two-sample t tests were used to detect differences in scores on the self-report measures and glycosylated hemoglobin values between the 2 racial groups. RESULTS: In all participants, no significant relationships were found between (1) social support and self-care behaviors and (2) self-efficacy and self-care behaviors. Self-care behaviors were significantly, positively correlated with outcome expectancy scores for the total group and for African Americans. No significant relationships were found between (1) social support and glycemic control, (2) self-efficacy and glycemic control, and (3) outcome expectations and glycemic control. African Americans reported less social support satisfaction than Caucasians did. CONCLUSIONS: Psychosocial variables investigated in this study were not related to health outcomes of type 2 diabetes. Caucasians and African Americans were similar in these variables. It is important to investigate the relationships between other variables (eg, age, duration of diabetes, education) and self-care behaviors and glycemic control. Although African Americans experience higher rates of diabetes-related complications than Caucasians do, this may possibly be due to other factors (eg, heredity, financial barriers, inadequate health care). Additional investigations to study the relationships of these variables to diabetes control are warranted.