Well-being and treatment satisfaction in adults with diabetes: A Swedish population-based study

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Abstract
In order to implement the St Vincent Declaration programme, instruments for quality assurance of medical outcomes as well as measures of psychological outcomes of diabetes care had to be developed. This paper presents baseline values for three questionnaires measuring psychological Wellbeing, Treatment Statisfaction and General Health among a representative sample of adult people with diabetes in Sweden consisting of 423 individuals of which 153 were insulin treated and 270 were diet/tablet-treated. Cronbach's α indicated that each of the Well-being and Treatment Satisfaction subscales was internally reliable, alphas ranging from 0.66–0.88. Factor analysis resulted in identification of five subscales (depression, anxiety, positive well-being, treatment satisfaction and metabolic control). There was no relation between any of the quality of life subscales with HbA1c, BMI, duration of diabetes, frequency of blood glucose tests per day, insulin regimens or diabetic complications. Females reported a more negative impact of diabetes on daily life compared with males (p<0.001). In conclusion, the Well-being and Treatment Satisfaction scales are reliable for quality assurance purposes in diabetes while the briefer general health instrument provides a useful assessment of the global impact of a chronic disease.