the relationship between health literacy, self-efficacy, and self-care behaviors in diabetic patients

Background: neglecting self-care behaviors is considered an important factor contributing to mortality among diabetic patients. according to bandura’s social-cognitive theory, there is a close relationship between individual performance and self-efficacy. moreover, access to health-related information or health literacy can affect health status. aim: to investigate the relationship between health literacy, self-efficacy, and self-care behaviors in diabetic patients. method: this descriptive correlational study was conducted on 400 patients with diabetes referred to a diabetes clinic during 2015. the participants were selected through convenience sampling. the data collection tools included short test of functional health literacy in adults, diabetes management self-efficacy scale, and the summary of diabetes self-care activities. to analyze the data, pearson’s correlation coefficient, independent t-test, and one-way analysis of variance were run in spss, version 19. results: the mean age of the participants was 55.1±10.1 years and 74.75% of them were male. the mean scores of self-care behaviors, health literacy, and self-efficacy were 61.94±14.35, 63.6±20.7, and 146.3±22.9, respectively. moreover, the results of pearson’s correlation coefficient showed a significant direct correlation between health literacy and self-efficacy (p=0.03, r=0.1), as well as health literacy and self-care behaviors (p=0.04, r=0.1). furthermore, self-efficacy had a significant direct correlation with self-care behaviors (p<0.001, r=0.5). implications for practice: health literacy and self-efficacy can affect self-care behaviors in diabetic patients; thus, nurses are recommended to develop and implement simple educational interventions to enhance self-efficacy and health literacy, and in turn, promote self-care behaviors.