Relationship between Fear of Hypoglycemia and Spiritual Well-Being in People with Type 2 Diabetes: A Single Center, Cross-Sectional Study from Iran

Abstract

Objective: One of the most important complications in patients with type 2 diabetes is the fear of hypoglycemia (FOH). Spiritual health as the last dimension of health can affect the complications caused by the disease. The present study aimed to determine the relationship between FOH and spiritual well-being (SWB) in patients with type 2 diabetes. Materials and methods: This study is a cross-sectional descriptive study of correlation type. 380 patients with type 2 diabetes were included in the study with convenience sampling. Two questionnaires of FOH (HSF-II) and Palutzian & Ellison SWB were used to collect data. Data were analyzed using R software version 4.0.4. In the analysis, Pearson's correlation coefficient and simple and multivariable linear regression were used. Results: A total of 380 patients with type 2 diabetes were included in this study. The mean and standard deviation of the age and diabetes duration of participants were 56.89 ± 11.42 and 11.7 ± 15.55 years, respectively. Most of the participants were women 244 (64.2%). The mean score of SWB and FOH in patients were 89.55 ± ± 14.32 and 13.34 ± 16.12, respectively. There was also a positive and significant relationship between SWB and FOH using Pearson correlation coefficient (p = 0.001). Conclusions: According to the results, with increasing the score of FOH, the score of SWB also increased. Although increasing SWB has no effect on reducing the FOH, it is a unique energy that relates to the physical, mental, and social dimensions of humans. (Clin Diabetol 2023; 12; 2: 87-94