Food & Nutrition

Arab Journal of Food & Nutrition
113. Stage of Change toward Healthy Behaviors among Patients with Type 2
Diabetes (2009)
Shatha Ziad Jibreen\ Jordan University of Science & Technology
Supervisor: Dr. Hiba Bawadi
Background: Diabetes mellitus continues to be a major threat to global public
health. The global increase in diabetes is triggered by, and associated with many factor
including the ageing population, unhealthy diet and sedentary lifestyle. Stage of
change model of behavior change has become one of the most influential theoretical
models used in health promotion.
Objectives: (1) to assess current stages of change (SOC), self efficacy (SE), and
decisional balance (DB) toward consuming five or more serving of fruit and
vegetables, consuming less saturated fat, consuming less simple sugar, practicing
regular exercise, smoking cessation, routine self monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG)
and (2) to identify the individuals’ demographic and social factors that might be
associated with SOC.
Methods: A sample of 737 patients (294 males and 443 females) aged between
30 and 80 years were interviewed. Sociodemograpich data, anthropometric
measurements, and health status were reported. Stages of change were assessed using
staging algorithm including five choices. Decisional balance and self efficacy was also
assessed using checklist of three pros and three cons and five items scale respectively.
Result: The prevalence of preaction stages were reported to be 78.1%, 65.4%,
95.7% for adapting exercise regularly, more fruit and vegetables intake, and self
monitoring of blood glucose respectively. For less fat and less simple sugar intakes the
highest percentage of participants were found to be in the maintenance stage. All of
the sociodemographic characteristics of participants were statistically in a significant
relation to stage of change for physical activity. It was also reported that gender and
educational level were in significantly related to stage of change for smoking
cessation, fruit and vegetables intake and self monitoring of blood glucose. Our results
indicated that as the self efficacy scores increase, the stage of change toward adapting
healthy behaviors increase.
Conclusion: Findings of our study indicate that despite the benefits of physical
activity, fruit and vegetables consumption and self monitoring of blood glucose, the
majority of our participants were found to be in the preaction stages. The main
socioeconomic factors affecting diabetes behaviors were age, low levels of education
and limited family income. The current findings suggest a need for nutritional
education programs to raise awareness of lifestyle factors influencing glycemic control
among diabetics.
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Volume 11, No. 25, 2011