Self-esteem and locus of control among a group of adolescents with type-1 diabetes mellitus

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus is an incurable lifelong disease that is treated with insulin injections, diet, exercise and monitoring of capillary blood glucose three to four times a day which can greatly affect the lives of the adolescent patient and his family. Studies postulated that there is a correlation between psycho-social factors (self-esteem, and locus of control) and diabetic control of patients with type 1 DM at time of diagnosis and at least one year after. Our study was conducted on two groups (Group A) newly diagnosed T1DM patients were selected randomly from diabetic clinic between the ages of 10-12 years old, and (Group B) diagnosed with T1DM for at least one year or more, after matching with group A for sex and age. Comparison between group A and group B showed a statistical significant difference between both groups regarding self esteem (p= 0.017*). Moreover, regarding group (A) although there was no significant difference between controlled and non -controlled group regarding self-esteem, the locus of control (powerful others) domain the mean of controlled group was (8.14 ± 2.41) versus (6.81 ± 1.08) among non- controlled group, this difference was statistically significant (p=0.035). In-group B, there was significant difference between mean of self-esteem and internal locus of control domain among the controlled group versus non -controlled group (p=0.014, 0.02) respectively. We can conclude that evaluating locus of control and self-esteem may become essential tools to guide health actions directed to DM patients. And that interventions aimed at improving self-esteem and internal locus of control may improve adherence to diabetes regimen. So we recommend that Counselors and educators world-wide should attend to self-esteem and locus of control in their interventional courses and programs.