Effect of a Quality of Life Education Program on Psychological Well-being and Adherence to Treatment of Diabetic Patients

Diabetes is a chronic disease with fatal health complications. Identifying the psychological factors that control this disease is very important, one of which is Quality of Life (QoL). Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effect of a QoL education program on psychological well-being (PWB) and adherence to treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes. Materials and Methods: This is a pilot study with a quasi-experimental design based on pre-test and post-test phases. The statistical population consists of all diabetic patients referred to health centers in Semnan City, Iran during the 6months from March to September 2018. Of them,30 type 2 diabetes, aged 30-60 years (male and female) were selected based on the inclusion criteria and randomly assigned to the intervention and control groups. They were first assessed by using Hayes’s general adherence scale (GAS) and Ryff’s psychological well-being scale the short form (PWBS-SF).Then, the intervention group received QoL education in 12 sessions, once per week each for 90 min. Then, posttest assessments were carried out. The collected data were analyzed using MANCOVA. Results: The QoL education program significantly increased adherence to treatment (P=0.005) and PWV and all its dimensions (autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relations with others, be purposeful in life, self-acceptance) in patients (P=0.005). Conclusion: Since diabetes is one of the chronic diseases that need constant care and there is no definitive and immediate treatment for it, increasing PWB and adherence to treatment in patients to control this disease by QoL education can be very effective.