[Identification of emotional disturbances in the diabetic patient]

The Emotional Adjustment Scale for Diabetics (EAD) and the Brown Scale (SB) were used to evaluate 60 diabetic patients. The aim of the study was to compare the clinicians' ability to diagnose the emotional maladjustment with the results of a standardized instrument. A battery of psychosocial tests was also applied. The results showed that SB has low sensibility, specificity and positive predictive value which suggests that clinicians has less ability to diagnose emotional maladjustment than a standardized instrument. The analysis of tests results helped to identify predictive variables for the results of SB (personality factors) and the results of EAD (locus of control of behavior, age, escolarity and scales D and F of the Minimult). The findings are discussed in the light of the relevant literature.