Merve Şanlı, Furkan Alp Eren, Hacer Hicran Mutlu
Türkiye Aile Hekimliği Dergisi - 2025;29(3):152-166
Objective: Insulin treatment for diabetes helps prevent complications. The views and attitudes of people with diabetes towards insulin have a significant impact on treatment adherence and health outcomes. This study aimed to understand the attitudes of people with diabetes towards insulin treatment and the psychosocial factors associated with them. Methods: The study included 225 patients who applied to the Diabetes-Obesity Outpatient Clinic of a tertiary hospital, who were diabetic, using insulin and/or oral antidiabetic drugs (OAD), over 18 years of age, not pregnant, and able to self-inject. The patient identification form, the DASS-21, and the ITAS scales were used to collect data. Results: In our study, the mean positive attitude of the ITAS was 9.51; the mean negative attitude of the ITAS was 41.28; and the mean total score of the ITAS was 50.80. Anxiety was observed in 54.7% of the participants, depression in 44.4%, and stress in 30.7%. There was a positive correlation between age and ITAS total score (r=0.405; p<0.001). Negative ITAS attitude and ITAS total score were found to be higher in women (p=0.022 and p=0.034), in patients with type 2 diabetes (p<0.001; p<0.001), and in patients who had not received diabetes education (p=0.002; p=0.001). The total and negative attitude scores of patients using only OAD were higher than those using insulin (p<0.001). Conclusion: In our study, we found that being a woman, being older, not having received diabetes education, having a short duration of diabetes, and using only OAD were associated with negative attitudes towards insulin in people with diabetes. We also found that depression, anxiety, and stress levels were significantly higher in women and people with low income.
