Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2007, Nursing

Type 2 diabetes is a growing threat to the health and well-being of Americans. Mid-life women are especially vulnerable to the devastating complications associated with diabetes. Health care professionals must facilitate effective diabetes self-management to minimize the negative consequences of the disease. Self-regulation theory provided a framework for nursing research, “Illness Representation and Glycemic Control in Women with Type 2 Diabetes” (IRT2DM). Illness representation theory proposes that a health threat is processed on cognitive and emotional levels. Emerging from this is a schema termed “illness representation”. The content of illness representation then shapes the choice of coping procedures to the threat. Using a descriptive, exploratory, cross-sectional design, the following research questions were posed: 1. What are the illness representations of a group of women with Type 2 diabetes? 2. What psycho-social factors are associated with illness representation? 3. What is the relationship between illness representation and diabetes self-management? 4. What diabetes self-management practices are associated with glycemic control? Illness representation was measured using the Illness Perception Questionnaire-Revised (IPQ-R). Diabetes knowledge was tested using the University of Michigan Diabetes Knowledge Test (DKT). Demographic and medical history data were gathered. Self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) was chosen to represent effective coping procedures. Level of glycemic control was measured using HgbA1C. The average age was 57 years. The majority was White (65%) and well educated. The majority of the women (75%) reported having 2 or more co-morbidities. Only 40% reported performing SMBG daily. The average HgbA1C was 8.2% at baseline. Diabetes knowledge was high, although there was lack of knowledge about goals for blood glucose testing. Higher scores on two of the constructs in illness representation, cure/control and emotional representation, were (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Nancy Reynolds (Advisor) Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing