Aims: The present study examined the mediating role of diabetes distress on the relationship between coping and glycaemic control, and evaluated if the afore-mentioned mediation was moderated by insulin treatment in people with type 2 diabetes.
Methods: A total of 473 adults with type 2 diabetes were recruited from an outpatient clinic in Hong Kong and invited to take part in a survey that measured adaptive coping, maladaptive coping, and diabetes stress. Glycaemic control was measured by glycated haemoglobin values extracted from medical records. PROCESS v3.4 macro was used to test the moderated mediation model.
Results: Adaptive coping was negatively associated with diabetes distress (-0.29, 95% CI: -0.53, -0.06), whereas maladaptive coping was positively associated with diabetes distress (1.82, 95% CI: 1.12, 2.51). Diabetes distress had a positive relationship with glycated haemoglobin (0.04, 95% CI: 0.02, 0.05), but no correlations were found between glycated haemoglobin and adaptive coping or maladaptive coping. Insulin treatment not only weakened the diabetes distress-glycaemic control relationship (-0.04, 95% CI: -0.06, -0.01), but also weakened the mediation effect of maladaptive coping-glycaemic control relationship via diabetes distress (-0.07, 95% CI: -0.12, -0.02).
Conclusions: The study findings revealed the role of diabetes distress and insulin treatment in the link between coping skills and glycaemic control. Interventions to help boost confidence and autonomy in people with diabetes could help them lessen diabetes distress.
Keywords: Chinese; Coping; Diabetes distress; Glycated haemoglobin.
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