SELECTED FACTORS RELATED TO HbA1C LEVELS AMONG TYPE 2 DIABETES POLICE OFFICERS WITH UNCONTROLLABLE HbA1C LEVELS

Abstract

The purpose of this research study was to investigate the relationships between the duration of diabetes, body-mass index, depressive score, eating behavior, exercise behavior, medication adherence, social support, and HbA₁C levels among police officers (type 2 diabetes) with uncontrolled HbA₁C levels. One-hundred and thirty police officers with non-insulin dependent (type 2 diabetes), aged 30-59 year were recruited from the out-patient clinics located at Police General Hospital and Dararassamee Hospital, using a purposive sampling. Instruments were composed of demographic information form the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D), eating behavioral questionnaire, exercise behavioral questionnaire, medication adherence questionnaire, and social support questionnaire. All of the questionnaire were validated for their contents with internal consistency reliabilities of .81, .76, .70, .80 and .90 respectively. Descriptive statistical analyses composed of percentage, mean, and standard deviation, Pearson’s production moment correlation and Chi-Square were used to analyze data.

The major findings were:

1. Duration of diabetes was positively related to HbA₁C levels at a lower level and statistical significance (r=.22, p<.05).
2. Eating behavior and social support were negatively related to HbA₁C levels at a lower level and statistical significance (r=.21 and r=.26 respectively, p<.05).
3. Depression and medication adherence were related to HbA₁C levels and statistical significance (χ²=5.82 and χ²=4.32 respectively, p<.05).
4. There were no relationship between body-mass index, exercise behavior and HbA₁C levels.