THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HYPOGLYCEMIC CONFIDENCE AND HYPOGLYCEMIA FEAR IN TYPE 2 DIABETES MELLITUS PATIENTS

Objective: This study aims to identify the relationship between hypoglycemic confidence and hypoglycemia fear in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients. Method: Designed as a descriptive and cross-sectional study, this research was conducted with 306 type 2 diabetes patients who visited the diabetes polyclinic to have an examination in period December 2021 and February 2022. The research data were collected by using the “Patient Identification Form”, the “Hypoglycemic Confidence Scale”, and the “Hypoglycemia Fear Survey”. Descriptive statistics, the Independent Samples t-test, the One-Way ANOWA test, the Pearson’s correlation test, and the linear regression analysis were used in the evaluation of research data. Results: In the research, 60.8% of the participant type 2 diabetes patients were female, their mean age was 55.14±8.10 years, and their mean duration of having the disease was 10.35±4.77 years. Means of type 2 diabetes patients’ Hypoglycemic Confidence Scale (HCS)’ score 1.65±0.47 and ‘Hypoglycemia Fear Survey (HFS)’ scores were 3.02±0.56 points. Type 2 diabetes patients’ HCS scores had moderately negative relationships with scores obtained by them from the HFS and its Behavior Sub-scale and Worry Sub-scale (p