Social Support Intervention for Self-management of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Diabetes mellitus is responsible for 1.6 million deaths a year, becoming one of the world's 21st century health emergencies.

DM2 is the most frequent form of diabetes, accounting for 90% of all cases of this chronic condition. If this trend continues, by 2045 about 693 million people will have diabetes.

People with chronic diseases have changing perspectives, in addition to suffering physical alterations, their psychological, emotional and social state is also compromised, presenting themselves as a need to modify lifestyle to improve prognosis, facing alterations in the ability to socialize and with death or a great loss. Few studies comprehensively address these dimensions.

The literature reports that DM2 self-control has a direct effect in improving clinical results, reducing complications and quality of life. Therefore, the patient must make multiple decisions every day regarding diet, physical activity, glucose control, and medication compliance.

However, intervention studies that seek to improve self-management behaviors in people with DM2 are characterized by emphasizing the transmission of knowledge and establishing compliance with prescribed treatments, but they do not address social and emotional elements such as social support. Additionally, most of these interventions do not show the use of theoretical models that provide explanations of human responses to disease and other phenomena important to practice.

Studies using the Nursing Outcomes Classification to assess the effect of social support interventions are scarce.

Inclusion criteria

• Adults over 18 years with a diagnosis of DM2, attending the outpatient diabetes consultation at the health care institution.
• Initial score less than or equal to 3 on the NOC outcomes: self-management: diabetes and social support.

Exclusion criteria

• People with a score <30 on the cognitive mini mental test.
• Other comorbidities reported by the patient or in the medical history that limit receiving the intervention (example: hearing loss, deafness, Alzheimer's disease).