Exploring Psycho-Diabetic Distress across Different Measures of Body Mass Index and Glycated Haemoglobin among Diabetic Patients

Abstract

In Pakistan, mental health aspects of chronic diseases like diabetes are often overlooked due to multiple factors such as limited awareness, social stigma, and insufficient integration of psychological services within healthcare settings. Consequently, many diabetic patients experience psycho-diabetic distress. Therefore, this study was carried out to explore the psycho-diabetic distress among diagnosed patients with pre-diabetes, diabetes type-1 and type-2 symptoms across different measures of body mass index (BMI) and Glycated Haemoglobin (Hba1c). For this purpose, a sample of (N=198) diabetic patients were selected by using purposive sampling method. Level of psycho-diabetic distress was measured by using two valid and reliable scales. The results from the collected data revealed that psycho-diabetic distress was higher among the pre-diabetic patients having Hba1c from 5.7%-6.4%. No significant differences were found in the level of psych-diabetic distress among the patients with type-1 diabetes who scored 5.7%-6.4% Hba1c in contrast with those who scored above 6.5% Hba1c. Similarly, psycho-diabetic distress was higher among type-2 diabetic patients who scored 5.7%-6.4% as compared with those who scored above 6.5% Hba1c. Moreover, the psycho-diabetic distress was higher among underweight or overweight diabetic patients. Hence, on the basis of the findings this concluded the diabetic patients are suffering with higher psycho-diabetic distress at pre-diabetes or type-1 diabetes. So, managing psycho-diabetic distress at initial level is crucial to rescue the mental health of diabetic patients.