Spiritual Well-Being, Disease Perception, and Disease Adaptation in Diabetic Patients in Southern Turkey: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction This cross-sectional descriptive study investigated the relationship between spiritual well-being, disease perception, and disease adaptation in individuals with diabetes mellitus (DM). Methods The sample consisted of 340 patients admitted to the internal medicine outpatient clinics of a city hospital in southern Turkey between January 2022 and January 2023. Data were collected using patient information, the Spiritual Well -Being Scale (SWBS), the Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ), and the Adaptation to Chronic Illness Scale (ACIS). The data were analyzed at a significance level of 0.05. Results Most participants were familiar with integrative interventions (84.1%). Less than half of the participants learned about integrative interventions from friends (46%). Less than a quarter of the participants had turned to integrative interventions (23.5%), such as cupping therapy (7.6%) and cinnamon therapy (7.1%). Participants had mean SWBS and ACIS scores of 118.40 +/- 11.46 and 84.46 +/- 9.18, respectively. There was a positive correlation between the ACIS and SWBS scores. There was also a positive correlation between total SWBS scores and scores on the IPQ perceptions about the illness subscale timeline (acute/chronic). Additionally, there was a positive correlation between the total ACIS score and the scores on the IPQ subscales perceptions about the illness, personal control, treatment control, and illness identification. Conclusion DM patients with greater spiritual well-being tend to adhere more to their treatment and management regimens. Moreover, DM patients with more positive perceptions of their illness tend to have greater levels of spiritual well-being, which correlates with improved adaptation to their disease management and treatment protocols.