Social Support between Diabetes Patients and Non-Diabetes Persons in Yangon, Myanmar: A Study Applying ENRICHD Social Support Instrument

Abstract

Diabetes patients, due to the chorionic nature of the disease, need complex and long-term care for control and prevention of complications. The patients themselves find it difficult to adopt appropriate disease management after diagnosis and they need social support from family, friends, and their environment, especially in lower- and middle-income countries where medical service is limited, and they need self-care of disease and lifestyle modification. In Myanmar, however, the study for social support among diabetes patients is still limited. Therefore, we conducted a case-control study to investigate the social support among diabetes patients and the association between socioeconomic factors in Yangon, which has the highest prevalence of diabetes in Myanmar. Social support between diabetes patients who came to diabetes special clinics and non-diabetes community control was assessed by applying transculturally translated ENRICHD Social Support Instrument (ESSI). Among the diabetes patients’ group, more than 70% had high perceived social support, specifically higher level of informational and emotional social support. Robust multiple regression models revealed significant positive associations between total social support and independent variables: p value < 0.001 for monthly household income and being married, and p value < 0.05 for household number and frequency of having meals together with family. These findings suggest that perceived social support among patients with diabetes may be mainly affected by the patients’ family conditions, such as household income and living with a spouse, in Myanmar culture.

Associations Between Primary Residence and Mental Health in Global Marginalized Populations

“…The primary investigator in Germany translated the last two items, matching the form and content of the five published, translated items. The ENRICHD has been used as a more general social support measure outside of coronary heart disease research, especially when a social support measure is required in a language other than English (e.g., Khin et al, 2021 ). The scale demonstrated good reliability in the overall study ( α = 0.89) as well as in the German sample ( α = 0.85).…”

Association between Dietary Habits and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Yangon, Myanmar: A Case–Control Study

“…The eligibility criteria for the case participants were: (1) patients who were newly diagnosed with T2DM within the six months prior to data collection (after June 2018); (2) adults aged 25 to 74 years; (3) either sex; (4) diagnosed by fasting plasma glucose ≥ 126 mg/dL and/or random blood glucose (RBG) ≥ 200 mg/dL, with or without the osmotic symptoms of diabetes (polyuria, polydipsia, thirst, bodyweight loss); and (5) all races and religions, and residing in Yangon [ 27 ] (see Figure 1 ).…”

“…The eligibility criteria for the control participants were: (1) adults aged 25 to 74 years; (2) either sex; (3) individuals who do not have a history of diabetes or taking any diabetes medication, such as oral antihyperglycemic agents or insulin; (4) fasting blood glucose < 110 mg/dL and random blood glucose (RBG) < 140 mg/dL); and (5) all races and religions, and residing in Yangon [ 27 ] (see Figure 1 ).…”