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Controversial beliefs about diabetes and its care
R M Anderson1, M B Donnelly, W K Davis
1University of Michigan Medical School, Michigan Diabetes Research and Training Center, Department of Postgraduate Medicine/Health Professions Education, Ann Arbor.
Objective:
The purpose of this study was to identify specific beliefs that differentiate health-care professionals whose attitudes toward diabetes agreed most strongly with a group of national diabetes experts from those whose attitudes disagreed most strongly.
Research Design And Methods:
The sample for this study included 271 physicians, 834 nurses, and 546 dietitians who completed a Diabetes Attitudes Survey. The sample included specialists in diabetes care and nonspecialists. Controversial beliefs about diabetes and its care were determined by comparing the beliefs of the 10% of the sample whose attitudes were most concordant (with the national panel) with the beliefs of the 10% of the sample whose attitudes were the most discordant. Ten beliefs met the criteria for being defined as controversial.
Results:
The most controversial beliefs concerned whether the patient or the physician should be the primary decision maker in diabetes care, the meaning of patient noncompliance, and the seriousness of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. The 10% of the sample with the most discordant attitudes contained a disproportionately large number of physicians, nonspecialists in diabetes, and health-care professionals who had been in practice longer than the other members of the sample.
Conclusions:
This study identifies some important differences in beliefs between younger health-care professionals who specialize in diabetes and older nonspecialists. Such beliefs should be addressed in continuing education programs with the aim being to foster the widespread adoption of a contemporary approach to diabetes care.