Enhancing self-care in diabetes management using self-regulatory processes

Findings from recent research on the self-regulatory process in Type II diabetes mellitus have clinical relevance for nurses and other diabetes educators. We analyzed a symptom self-regulation model and its relationship to demographic and therapeutic variables in persons with Type II diabetes mellitus. The model suggested that when such diabetic clients experienced disease-related symptoms, they used these symptoms as signals of abnormal blood glucose and took action to relieve these symptoms and improve their blood-glucose level. These actions were often judged by the investigators to have no immediate effect on blood-glucose level or, in some cases, to potentially worsen blood glucose. In this article, intervention strategies for nurses and other professionals engaged in diabetic education are developed to improve objective validation of symptom accuracy and to modify some perceptions held by the client with noninsulin-dependent diabetes and, in particular, those clients using oral agents.