Exploring Problem Areas of Elderly Patients with Diabetes and the Support Provided by Their Family

Abstract

Objective: Diabetes increases problems in emotional areas particularly among the elderly patients by aggravating negative emotions such as loss, anxiety and fear and makes these patients need higher level of family support. This study aims at exploring problematic areas of the elderly diabetic patients and their family support levels. Methods: The data of this descriptive study were collected by the researcher by conducting a face to face interview with 218 elderly diabetic patients who presented to Endocrine Polyclinics of State Hospital between October 2015 and October 2016. To collect the data, “Patient Information Form”, “Problem Areas in Diabetes Scale (PAID)” and “Hensarling’s Diabetes Family Support Scale (HDFSS)” were used. Results: Although problem areas among the patients were found to be fewer than expected; it was found that there were significant differences between problem areas and “sex, diabetes time, treatment type, length of oral antidiabetic medicine use and insulin use, development of diabetes-related complication and hospitalization due to these complications in the recent year” (p