Sense of coherence in people with and without type 2 diabetes mellitus: An observational study from Greece

K. Merakou, A. Koutsouri, E. Antoniadou, A. Barbouni, A. Bertsias, G. Karageorgos, C. Lionis

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Background: Antonovsky's concept of sense of coherence (SOC) has been suggested to relate to health, especially mental health and preventive health behaviours. Psychological distress has been identified as a risk factor for pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes mellitus. The study of SOC and diabetes has not received much attention in Greece. This study aims to explore the extent to which type 2 diabetes mellitus can affect the SOC score. Methods: An observational design was used to test the study hypothesis that individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus would have a lower SOC than those without diabetes mellitus. A total of 202 individuals were studied, consisting of 100 people with diabetes mellitus (the study group) and 102 people with non-chronic orthopaedic conditions (the control group). All of the participants were patients of the Diabetic Clinic or the Orthopaedic Clinic of Livadia Hospital in Central Greece. SOC was assessed using a 29-item SOC questionnaire that had been translated into Greek and validated. Results: Patients without type 2 diabetes mellitus had 2.4 times higher odds of having a high SOC score than patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (P = 0.036; odds ratio [OR] = 2.35, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.06-5.23). Male patients had 3.9 times higher odds of having a high SOC score (P<0.001; OR = 3.85, 95% CI = 1.71-8.67) than female patients. With regard to education, patients with a lower level of education had almost three times higher odds of having a high SOC score than patients with a higher level of education (P = 0.024; OR = 2.97, 95% CI = 1.15-7.67). Conclusions: This study adds to the existing literature and indicates that SOC is a health asset. A study with an experimental design would clarify the interesting hypothesis of this study.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3-13
Number of pages11
JournalMental Health in Family Medicine
Volume10
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2012

Keywords

  • Diabetes
  • Sense of coherence
  • Survey

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