Individualized care for older adults with diabetes and its relationship with communication, psychosocial self-efficacy, resources and support for self-management and socio-demographics.
Birute Bartkeviciute, Olga Riklikiene, Rima Kregzdyte and 1 others
PMID 36479931WHAT IT FOUND
Nurses and physicians were rated best for respect and comfort, worst for prompting questions and shared decisions.
Communication had the strongest link to feeling care was individualized. Patients who felt more confident managing diabetes perceived less individualized care.
Key findings
01Patients rated communication with health professionals highly overall, with 44.0% of responses at the top rating, but encouraging questions and involving patients in decisions scored lowest.
02Communication was the most important factor in regression models for both support and perception of individualized care, and the models explained 23% and 31% of variance.
03Psychosocial self-efficacy was negatively related to support and experience of individualized care.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was cross-sectional, so it can show relationships at one time point but not whether communication, self-efficacy or resources cause more individualized care. It relied on patient-reported questionnaires. Clinical outcomes such as glycaemic control, complications and comorbidities were not examined in this report; the authors say further research is needed. The final analysed sample was 145 of 374 sampled patients; only 197 questionnaires were returned, a 53% response rate, and 52 were incomplete or empty. Older adults lacked experience with surveys, and some may have been fatigued or misunderstood translated international items. The pandemic and limited internet use may have reduced the sample. The study was done in Lithuanian primary care institutions, so results may not transfer to other countries or care systems. Socio-demographic and health-related data were collected but not systematically analysed or linked to individualized care in this report.
Declared interests
The supplied text includes a conflict of interest statement saying the authors do not declare any conflict of interest. It does not report a funding source or sponsor role.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that better communication causes more individualized care or improves diabetes outcomes. This was a cross-sectional survey of patient perceptions, so it can only show associations, and it did not measure clinical outcomes such as glycaemic control or complications.