Background: It has previously been established that patients who have strong barriers to their diet self-management are more likely to have weak social support; however, the key mechanisms underlying the association between these two variables have not yet been established. This study aims to examine the potential role that diet self-efficacy plays in the relationship between social support and diet behavior in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).
Methods: It was a cross-sectional survey. Three hundred-eighty patients diagnosed with T2DM were recruited for this study from five community health centers in China. The Chronic Disease Resource Scale (CIRS), Cardiac Diet Self-efficacy Scale (CDSE), and Food Control Behavior Scale (FCBS) were used to estimate participants' utilization of social resources, diet self-efficacy, and diet self-management, respectively. The data were analyzed utilizing structural equation modelling.
Results: The results suggest that both higher levels of social support and diet self-efficacy are related to higher levels of diet self-management. The mediating effect that diet self-efficacy has on the relationship between social support and diet self-management was significant (β = .30, p < .05), explaining 55.68% of the total effect of social support on diet self-management.
Conclusions: Diet self-efficacy plays a mediating role in the association between social support and diet behavior in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Keywords: Diabetes mellitus, type 2; Diet; Self efficacy; Self-management; Social support.