Psychological insulin resistance (PIR) affects patients' self-care behaviors and quality of life due to the delay of insulin treatment for optimal glycemic control. Although effective patient-provider communication and relationships have been shown to improve patients' overall treatment adherence and attitude toward treatment, little is known about the potential mechanisms by which effective patient-provider communication and relationships decrease PIR and whether these relationships are mediated by diabetes self-efficacy. The purpose of this study is to examine whether diabetes self-efficacy among patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) mediates the relationships between PIR and perceived patient-provider relationships. A total of 178 patients with T2D participated in a cross-sectional study. Data were obtained by patient interview using validated measures of diabetes attitude, diabetes knowledge, self-efficacy, and patient-provider communication. PIR was measured by using a validated measure, Barriers to Insulin Treatment. A structural equation model was developed to estimate direct and indirect effects of patient-provider relationship on PIR when self-efficacy was controlled as a mediator. Diabetes knowledge and attitude were not significantly associated with PIR. Better patient-provider relationship was directly associated with lower PIR (β = -.40, p = 0.008). When diabetes self-efficacy was included as a mediator, the direct effect between patient-provider relationship and PIR changed (β = -.27, p = 0.034), indicating that better patient-provider relationship that reduces PIR is due to greater diabetes self-efficacy. The findings suggest that development of intervention programs aimed at improving diabetes self-efficacy-which may be positively correlated with better patient-provider relationship-is needed to reduce PIR.
Keywords: mediator; patient-provider relationship; psychological insulin resistance; self-efficacy.