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Updated: Apr 23, 2026

Improving IV Insulin Administration in a Community Hospital
Published on: June 11, 2012
Family involvement is helpful and harmful to patients' self-care and glycemic control
Lindsay Satterwhite Mayberry1, Chandra Y Osborn2
1Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Objective:
We assessed the relationships between supportive and obstructive family behaviors and patients' diabetes self-care activities and HbA1C, and potential interaction effects and differences by demographic characteristics.
Methods:
In a cross-sectional study, 192 adults with type 2 diabetes completed the Diabetes Family Behavior Checklist-II, the Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities, and a glycemic control (HbA1C) test.
Results:
Participants reported similar rates of supportive and obstructive behaviors that were positively correlated (rho=0.61, p<0.001). In adjusted analyses, supportive family behaviors were associated with adherence to different self-care behaviors (β=0.20 to 0.50, p<0.05), whereas obstructive family behaviors were associated with less adherence to self-care behaviors (β=-0.28 to -0.39, p<0.01) and worse HbA1C (β=0.18, p<0.05). Supportive behaviors protected against the detrimental effect of obstructive behaviors on HbA1C (interaction β=-0.22, p<0.001). Non-Whites reported more supportive and obstructive behaviors than Whites, but race did not affect the relationships between family behaviors and self-care or HbA1C.
Conclusion:
Involving family members in patients' diabetes management may impede patients' self-care and compromise their glycemic control unless family members are taught to avoid obstructive behaviors.
Practice Implications:
Our findings endorse interventions that help family members develop actionable plans to support patients' self-care and train them to communicate productively about diabetes management.
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