[Health education preferences in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus based on Big Five personality traits]

To explore differences in the Big Five personality traits among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in relation to demographic characteristics and health education preferences and to provide evidence for personalized health education strategies.

In September 2023, a cluster sampling method was used to recruit patients with T2DM from seven community health service centers in Shandong Province, China. Data were collected using a questionnaire survey. The 10-item Big Five Inventory (BFI-10) and a self-developed health education preference questionnaire were used for the assessment. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was conducted to identify personality classifications among the patients. Chi-square tests were applied to compare differences in health education preferences across personality groups, and stratified binary Logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the association between personality classification and health education preferences.

A total of 612 patients were included and categorized into three personality groups: Regular-balanced type (69.8%), introverted-sensitive type (6.4%), and proactive-adaptive type (23.8%). In the univariate analysis, the proportion of patients in the proactive-adaptive group who preferred peer patients as health education providers was significantly lower than that in other personality groups (χ²=6.123, P=0.047). In contrast, patients in the introverted-sensitive group showed a significantly higher preference for health education content that included psychological support than other personality groups (χ²=8.566, P=0.014). In the Logistic regression analysis, using the regular-balanced type as the reference group, proactive-adaptive patients were less likely to prefer peer patients with diabetes as health education providers (OR=0.491, 95%CI: 0.279-0.866, P=0.014). Regarding health education content, proactive-adaptive patients demonstrated a lower preference for research-frontier information (OR=0.565, 95%CI: 0.376-0.848, P=0.006). In terms of educational delivery settings, introverted-sensitive patients were less likely to prefer mobile applications as a means of receiving health education (OR=0.374, 95%CI: 0.165-0.848, P=0.019). When the proactive-adaptive type as the reference group, introverted-sensitive patients showed a significantly higher preference for psychological support content (OR=2.122, 95%CI: 1.029-4.380, P=0.042).

Personality traits exhibit substantial heterogeneity among patients with T2DM, and different personality classifications are associated with distinct health education preferences. Personality traits may serve as an important reference for developing individualized health education strategies; however, their effectiveness in improving intervention outcomes requires further validation through future studies.