The relationships among knowledge of diabetes, attitude toward diabetes, family and friends' support, benefits of and barriers to treatment and compliance with health regimens of Jordanian adolescents with insulin dependent diabetes mellitus

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships among knowledge of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM), attitude toward diabetes, family and friends support, benefits of and barriers to treatment, and compliance with health regimens of Jordanian adolescents with IDDM so as to determine the extent to which these variables predict compliance. The Health Belief Model (Becker, 1974) provided the conceptual framework for this study. The convenience sample of 93 adolescents with IDDM was recruited from two hospitals and three health centers in Irbid, Jordan.; The mean age of participants was 15.9 with a range of 13 to 19 years. Fifty participants were male, and 43 were female. Most of the participants were single, students, unemployed, and had a family history of diabetes mellitus. On average, the participants had been diagnosed with IDDM for 4.72 years.; Data collection instruments included the Diabetes Knowledge Test, the Barriers to Adherence Questionnaire and four scales of the Diabetes Care Profile: Attitude Toward Diabetes, Family and Friends Support, Long-Term Care Benefits, and Self-Care Adherence. Data were analyzed by multiple regression analysis. Family and friends' support was found to be the only significant predictor of self-reported compliance with recommended health regimens and fasting blood sugar.; The finding that 73% of the participants did not have adequate diabetic control, as evidenced by fasting blood sugar results, was higher than the incidence reported in the literature. Barriers to treatment was related to number of years the adolescents had been diagnosed with IDDM, and to the number of people the adolescents lived with. The study partially supported the substruction of the Health Belief Model as a conceptual framework for compliance behaviors.; Recommendations included replicating the study using a random sample, including more cities and more subjects at the national level, using glycosylated hemoglobin to measure diabetic control, and revising existing or developing new instruments to measure knowledge of and attitude toward IDDM, social support, and self-reported compliance for use in an Arabic speaking population. Recommendations for use of the research findings to improve nursing care and health for Jordanian adolescents with IDDM are also made.