The Relationships Among Family Involvement, Diabetes Self-Management and Glycaemic Control in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Aims: To investigate diabetes family involvement, including supportive and nonsupportive family behaviours in China, and explore the relationships among opposite forms of family involvement, diabetes self-management and glycaemic control.

Design: A cross-sectional study.

Methods: Type 2 diabetes patients were recruited from hospitals in Nanjing, Shanghai and Jinan, and communities across China, between April 2023 and August 2023. A total of 1648 patients completed questionnaires regarding diabetes family involvement, diabetes self-management, perceived glycaemic control and patient characteristics. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS 26.0 and PROCESS macro.

Results: The mean scores for supportive and nonsupportive family behaviours were 19.14 out of 40 and 12.47 out of 30, respectively, resulting in an overall family involvement score of 6.67. Overall family involvement, especially supportive family behaviours, was positively related to diabetes self-management and perceived glycaemic control, whereas nonsupportive family behaviours were not. Diabetes self-management partially mediated the relationships between both overall family involvement and supportive family behaviours with perceived glycaemic control.

Conclusion: Diabetes family involvement was suboptimal. Overall family involvement, especially supportive family behaviours, could not only directly improve glycaemic control but also indirectly enhance it through promoting diabetes self-management.

Implications For The Profession And/or Patient Care: The findings highlight the importance of promoting supportive family involvement and patient self-management in diabetes management.

Impact: This study endorses the necessity for healthcare professionals to integrate the family unit into diabetes management and implement interventions at the family unit level, to address the neglect of families in current interventions. It also advocates for promoting supportive family involvement rather than all family involvement in future interventions. Promoting supportive family involvement and patient self-management can better improve patients' glycaemic control and alleviate the burden on medical and social systems.

Reporting Method: This study adheres to the STROBE guideline of reporting.

Patient Or Public Contribution: No Patient or Public Contribution.