Scales to Measure Perceived Control Developed Specifically for People with Tablet‐treated Diabetes

Abstract

Scales to measure perceived control of tablet-treated diabetes were adapted from a measure designed previously for insulin users. Development of the new scale is described and the psychometric properties are examined with responses from 187 tablet-treated patients. The scales consist of seven subscales which may be combined to provide three composite scores indicating the extent to which respondents perceive Personal Control, Medical Control, and Situational Control over their diabetes. Relationships between subscales and composite scores were similar to those found previously for insulin users. Patients were significantly more likely (p less than 0.001) to make attributions to Personal Control for their diabetes management rather than to Medical or Situational Control. As before, predictable biases were found in attributions to positive and negative outcomes. Correlations with medical and other psychological variables indicated that, as expected, stronger perceptions of Personal Control were associated with lower HbA1 levels (r = -0.14; p less than 0.05), lower percent ideal body weight (r = -0.24; p less than 0.01), less Anxiety (r = -0.15; p less than 0.05), greater Positive Well-being (r = 0.21; p less than 0.01) and greater Satisfaction with treatment (r = 0.34; p less than 0.001). Complementary relationships were found with the measure of Situational Control. Wallston and Wallston's speculative Locus of Control typology was investigated using the new measures, and the findings provided support for the value of this approach.

Association of glycaemia with perceived threat of illness in patients with type 2 diabetes

“…A possible explanation for the association found between high scores for personal control domain and the glycosylated haemoglobin levels could be because personal control is considered to be an internal locus of control belief, while treatment control might be an external locus belief [16,[21][22][23].…”

Relationship between Adolescents’ Health Beliefs and Health Behavior

“…Norman and Bennett 8 reviewed and reported several findings that have been published using health-related locus of control scales in specific domains, such as cancer, diabetes, tablet-treated diabetes and hypertension. [9][10][11] These findings reveal that health locus of control is better at predicting health-related behavior if examined in conjunction with health value, i.e. the value people attach to their health, suggesting that health value is an important moderator variable in the health locus of control relationship.…”

Experiences of closed‐loop insulin delivery among pregnant women with Type 1 diabetes

“…The DTQ standard version is a 30-item measure of the impact of and satisfaction with current diabetes technology [16]. The DTQ standard version is a 30-item measure of the impact of and satisfaction with current diabetes technology [16].…”