The role of resilience in diabetes stigma among young and middle-aged patients with type 2 diabetes

Aim: To explore the prevalence and related factors influencing diabetes stigma among Chinese young and middle-aged patients with type 2 diabetes.

Design: A cross-sectional, quantitative study was conducted through questionnaires.

Methods: A total of 453 young and middle-aged patients with type 2 diabetes were recruited. Questionnaire survey was conducted with convenience sampling from September 2019 to December 2020. This included demographic questionnaire, Type 2 Diabetes Stigma Assessment Scale (DSAS-2) and Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). The STROBE checklist was applied as the reporting guideline for this study.

Results: The scores of diabetes stigma and resilience of patients were 48.18 ± 14.52 and 66.02 ± 7.18, respectively. Diabetes stigma was negatively correlated with resilience, the correlation coefficient was -0.581. The results showed that the complications, diabetes year, monthly income and insulin treatment are important factors affecting stigma. In addition, it is resilience that was a protective factor of diabetes stigma, explaining 27.2% of the variance in diabetes stigma.