self-efficacy: an efficient functional concept in type 2 diabetes control

background: diabetic patients have some difficulties in controlling their disease and integrating it in their life. self-efficacy is a psychosocial variable in the field of diabetes which can have desirable or undesirable effects on all kinds of disease outcomes. this study aimed to determine self-efficacy and its effective factors among type 2 diabetic patients. methods: this cross-sectional study was conducted during four months in 2011. consecutive sampling was used to select 140 patients with type 2 diabetes. a questionnaire including demographic characteristics, health-related questions (12 items) and diabetes self- efficacy scale (8 items) was employed to collect data. all items were scored on a scale of 1 (not at all confident) to 10 (totally confident). descriptive statistics was used to analyze the collected data in spss 11.5 . findings: the response rate was 100%. the mean age and diabetes duration were 53.23 ± 7.82 and 53.23 ± 7.82 years, respectively. while the mean score of self-efficacy was 36.29 ± 9.27, 58.6% of the participants had low self-efficacy. in addition, self- efficacy had significant relations with marital status (p < 0.001), education level (p = 0.04), general health status (p = 0.04), disease duration (p = 0.02), and hemoglobin a1c (hba1c) level (p = 0.002).  conclusion: self-efficacy has a key role in diabetes control. however, a high percentage of our participants had low self-efficacy. therefore, educational interventions using health education and promotion theories focusing on self-efficacy are necessary.