Diabetes empowerment scores among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients and its correlated factors: A cross-sectional study in a primary care setting in Malaysia

Table 1 Sociodemographic profiles of the study participants in primary health care clinic in Putrajaya (n = 322), n (%)

Variables	Frequency	Median (IQR)
Age (yr)		55 (18)
Gender
Male	189 (58.7)
Female	133 (41.3)
Ethnicity
Malay	297 (92.2)
Chinese	6 (1.9)
Indian	14 (4.3)
Others	5 (1.6)
Education level
No formal education	12 (3.7)
Primary school	24 (7.5)
Secondary school	132 (41.0)
Diploma/University	154 (47.8)
Marital status
Single	25 (7.8)
Married	297 (92.2)
Smoking status
Yes	46 (14.3)
Never	214 (66.5)
Ex-Smoker	62 (19.2)

IQR: Interquartile range.

Table 2 Clinical profiles of the type 2 diabetes mellitus patients with total diabetes empowerment scores, n (%)

Variables	Frequency	Median (IQR)
Diabetes duration (yr)		4.00 (7.0)
Compliance to diabetes treatment
Yes	310 (96.3)
No	12 (3.7)
Diabetes education exposure
Yes	264 (82.0)
No	58 (18.0)
BMI (kg/m2)		28.70 (7.12)
Underweight (< 18.5)	3 (1.0)
Normal (18.5-22.9)	29 (9.0)
Overweight (23-27.4)	88 (27.3)
Obese (> 27.5)	202 (62.7)
Hypertension status
Yes	207 (64.3)
No	115 (35.7)
Dyslipidaemia status
Yes	246 (76.4)
No	76 (23.6)
Ischemic heart disease status
Yes	42 (13.0)
No	280 (87.0)
Asthma status
Yes	30 (9.3)
No	292 (90.7)

BMI: Body mass index; IQR: Interquartile range.

Table 3 The correlation between clinical outcome with total diabetes empowerment scores and subscales and among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients

Variables	Total diabetes empowerment score		Managing the psychosocial aspect of diabetes		Assessing dissatisfaction and readiness to change		Setting and achieving diabetes goal
	Coefficient correlation	P value	Coefficient correlation	P value	Coefficient correlation	P value	Coefficient correlation	P value
Systolic blood pressure1 (mmHg)	0.046	0.411	0.073	0.192	0.014	0.798	0.013	0.821
Diastolic blood pressure1 (mmHg)	-0.009	0.867	-0.011	0.849	-0.055	0.323	0.024	0.674
HbA1c1 (%)	-0.132	0.018	-0.122	0.028	-0.11	0.049	-1.168	0.003
HDL level1 (mmol/L)	0.022	0.693	0.019	0.734	0.013	0.816	0.104	0.063
LDL level1 (mmol/L)	-0.087	0.12	-0.064	0.252	-0.044	0.435	-0.062	0.269
TG level1 (mmol/L)	-0.034	0.538	0.043	0.438	-0.015	0.788	-0.067	0.231

¹Indicates Spearman’s test was used. HbA1c: Glycated hemoglobin; LDL: Low-density lipoprotein; HDL: High-density lipoprotein; TG: Triglycerides.

Table 4 The correlation between sociodemographic factors with total diabetes empowerment scores and subscales among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients

Variables	Total diabetes empowerment score			Managing the psychosocial aspect of diabetes			Assessing dissatisfaction and readiness to change			Setting and achieving diabetes goal
	Coefficient correlation	Median rank	P value	Coefficient correlation	Median rank	P value	Coefficient correlation	Median rank	P value	Coefficient correlation	Median rank	P value
Age1	0.05		0.37	0.095		0.087	0.089		0.111	-0.06		0.919
Gender2			0.629			0.692			0.173			0.528
Male		159.4			163.18			155.6			158.79
Female		164.49			159.11			169.89			165.35
Ethnicity2			0.56			0.2			0.757			0.332
Malay		162.38			163.38			161.04			162.94
Non-Malay		151.06			139.14			167			144.42
Education level2			< 0.001			< 0.001			< 0.001			< 0.001
Below Secondary		109.36			106.86			110.49			105.69
Above Secondary		168.06			168.38			167.92			168.52
Marital Status2			0.478			0.119			0.346			0.564
Single		148.82			134.28			144.74			151.34
Married		162.57			163.79			162.91			162.36
Smoking status2			0.18			0.704			0.008			0.105
Non-smoker		166.42			162.87			171.18			167.38
Smoker		151.75			158.79			142.32			149.85

¹Indicates Spearman’s test was used.

²Indicates Mann Whitney test was used.

Table 5 The correlation between clinical profiles with total diabetes empowerment scores and subscales among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients

Variables	Total diabetes empowerment score			Managing the psychosocial aspect of diabetes			Assessing dissatisfaction and readiness to change			Setting and achieving diabetes goal
	Coefficient correlation	Median rank	P value	Coefficient correlation	Median rank	P value	Coefficient correlation	Median rank	P value	Coefficient correlation	Median rank	P value
Diabetes Duration1 (yr)	-0.016		0.774	-0.1		0.857	0.011		0.847	-0.055		0.324
Diabetes education exposure2			0.004			0.01			0.001			0.05
Yes		168.43			167.59			169.72			168.18
No		129.97			133.8			126.38			131.1
Compliance to treatment2			0.326			0.538			0.284			0.241
Yes		162.5			162.11			162.59			162.68
No		135.63			145.67			133.38			131.04
BMI3 (kg/m2)			0.568			0.96			0.605			0.938
Underweight
Normal
Overweight
Obese
Hypertension status2			0.11			0.478			0.707			0.052
Yes		155.53			158.82			160.06			154.11
No		172.6			166.32			165.1			174.81
Dyslipidemia status2			0.789			0.371			0.679			0.341
Yes		162.27			164.02			162.69			158.8
No		159.01			153.35			157.66			170.24
Ischemic heart disease status2			0.004			0.011			0.104			0.001
Yes		122.83			128.32			139.83			118.65
No		167.3			166.48			164.75			167.93
Asthma status2			0.69			0.265			0.829			0.4
Yes		167.95			179.08			158.02			174.92
No		160.84			159.69			161.86			160.12

¹Indicates Spearman’s test was used.

²Indicates Mann Whitney test was used.

³Indicates Kruskal Wallis was used. BMI: Body mass index.

Table 6 Predictor of total empowerment scores among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients using multiple linear regressions

Variables	Unstandardized coefficients	t	Sig.	95%CI for B
	Beta			Lower bound	Upper bound
Those without ischemic heart disease	5.621	2.409	0.017	1.03	10.212
Those with secondary education level and above	16.023	6.263	< 0.001	10.99	21.057
HbA1c level	-1.403	-3.668	< 0.001	-2.155	-0.65
Those received DM education exposure	6.301	3.026	0.003	2.204	10.399
Smoker status	-1.157	-0.685	0.494	-4.481	2.168
Hypertension status	1.866	1.098	0.273	-1.444	5.092

Dependent Variable: Total DES; Beta is coefficient of the gradient of the regression line and the strength of the relationship between a predictor and the outcome variable; t is t-statistic tests; Sig is P value. DM: Diabetes mellitus; DES: Diabetes empowerment scores; HbA1c: Glycated hemoglobin.