Background:
Diabetes mellitus is a chronic illness that causes significant psychological and physical morbidity. The psychological needs of patients with diabetes mellitus are often undetected and neglected. This paper describes preliminary data from the Stress Sampler Study designed to trial brief psychological interventions to improve psychological and physical health among patients with type I and type II diabetes mellitus. We describe psychosocial adjustment specific to diabetes mellitus and its association with psychiatric and physical comorbidity.
Methods:
The Stress Sampler Study, commenced in July 2006, has been recruiting patients presenting to a hospital-based specialist diabetes clinic. Patients are administered the Patient Health Questionnaire, the Problem Areas in Diabetes Survey, SF-12 (physical and psychological self-report of functioning) and a clinical interview by a qualified psychiatrist as part of baseline assessment.
Results:
We present preliminary data from the first 100 patients examining the usefulness of a specific diabetes-related measure of psychosocial adjustment and its association with psychiatric diagnosis and physical comorbidity.
Conclusions:
These findings will contribute to the identification of specific psychological needs and problem areas among patients with diabetes. Knowledge of specific needs will greatly assist clinicians and researchers in the process of development of specific psychological interventions for patients with diabetes mellitus.