Self-managementis defined as the knowledge and skills necessary for an individual to take care
of oneself, manage crises, and change lifestyle to manage illness successfully.
Self-management is an important part of daily life for people with diabetes. It
has been reported that approximately 95% of diabetes care is self-treatment or
self-management. To control diabetes, individuals must monitor their daily
lifestyle behaviour, and often they must change long-held habits. Therefore,
although self-management is vital in people with type 2 diabetes mellitus
(T2DM), it is not always as effective as health professionals would like. Thus,
it is important that individuals adhere to self-management, to prevent further
complications associated with diabetes to maintain or achieve a positive
quality of life.
Ina clinic-based study on diabetes self-management in Malaysia, about 99% of the
respondents were practising at least two out of four diabetes regimens, which
were regular exercise, healthy diet, monitoring blood glucose and monitoring
body weight. However, only about half of the respondents (56%) were practicing
all these four regimens. Besides, it is common for people withT2DM to have
difficulty practicing all the self-care recommended by their health
practitioner. People with T2DM must comply with demanding requirements of their
treatment regimens, and this can create the fear of failure. These regimens can
involve daily behavioral tasks, such as changes in habits on diet and exercise,
which people with diabetes should comply for the rest of their life.
Practicessuch as diet, exercise, smoking cessation, and yearly check-ups will help to
prevent the incidence of diabetes and delay the progression of its
complications in people who are already known to have diabetes. Handley et al.
reported that the majority of the 228 participants (75%) from San Francisco,
California, with coronary heart disease risk factors, including those diagnosed
with diabetes, were carrying out an action plan that focused on diet or
exercise for self-management of their illness condition. Moreover, in a
qualitative study, the researchers demonstrated that most people with diabetes
had selected diet and or exercise for their behavior change. The study that
examined people with diabetes attending a Malaysian clinic showed that 94% of
these individuals were following a healthy diet. Besides, Anderson et al.,
suggested that diabetes self-management, such as diet planning, requires a
life-long commitment. This can only be sustained with the genuine
internalisation of the purposes and the value of good diabetes self-care.
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