INVESTIGATION THE PSYCHOLOGICAL COPING STRATEGIES AND MOTIVATION IN DIABETIC PATIENTS: A QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS

Abstract

Diabetes is a chronic and complex health condition that poses significant physical and psychological challenges, including the constant need to regulate diet, medication adherence, and blood glucose levels. The present study aimed to examine the effectiveness of psychological coping skills training in enhancing motivation and emotional well-being among individuals with diabetes. A key contribution of this research lies in addressing a methodological gap by employing a true experimental design incorporating both pre-test assessments and a control group. The study involved 60 participants aged 18–65 diagnosed with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes, who were randomly assigned to either an intervention (experimental) group or a usual care (control) group. Measures of quality of life, motivation, and coping abilities were administered before and after the intervention using standardized instruments, including the Coping Scale (Hamby et al., 2015). A total of sixty participants were enrolled in the study, equally divided by gender, with a mean age of 50.55 years (SD = 9.40). The Coping Scale demonstrated excellent internal consistency (α = .84) and a mean score of 39.11 (SD = 2.60). While the distribution exhibited slight negative skewness (-0.33) and minor deviation from normality (kurtosis = 0.39), it provided a reliable measure of coping skills. Independent samples t-tests revealed pre-intervention scores for either the control (Pre_C) or experimental (Pre_E) groups (p > .05). Post-intervention analyses similarly showed males had marginally higher mean scores in the control post-test (Post_C: M = 38.93) compared to females (M = 37.87), whereas females exhibited a slightly higher mean score in the experimental post-test (Post_E: M = 40.00) relative to males (M = 39.67). Small effect sizes indicated negligible gender influence on intervention outcomes, with females in the experimental group showing a marginally greater benefit. Notably, paired-sample t-tests demonstrated significant improvements in coping skills within the experimental group, with mean scores increasing from 37.77 (SD = 2.11) at pre-test to 39.83 (SD = 2.24) at post-test, t (59) = -7.39, p < .001, and a large effect size (d = -1.35). In contrast, the control group experienced a slight, non-significant decrease in mean scores from 39.10 (SD = 2.98) pre-test to 38.40 (SD = 2.77) post-test, t (59) = 2.76, p = .11, with a small effect size (d = 0.29). Collectively, these results provide robust evidence that the coping-based intervention significantly enhances coping skills, irrespective of gender.