Predictors of self-monitoring of blood glucose among noninsulin-treated patients with type 2 diabetes in a primary care setting in Hong Kong: A cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVES: The current study aimed to examine the relationship between patient characteristics (internal psychological, external psychological, internal physical, external physical, and educational) and self-monitoring of blood glucose among noninsulin-treated patients with type 2 diabetes in a local primary care setting. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study, in which data were collected by a structured questionnaire. Correlational and multivariate multiple regression analyses were performed. Three hundred seventy-four noninsulin-treated patients with type 2 diabetes were eligible and completed the questionnaire in August 2019. The response rate was 93.5%. The respondents’ self-reported self-monitoring of blood glucose adherence was the main outcome measure. RESULTS: In predicting self-monitoring of blood glucose adherence, the current regression model accounted for 12.3% of the variance (Adjusted R(2) = 0.123, p < 0.05), with internal psychological factors and educational factors being significant. External psychological factors, external physical factors, and internal physical factors were found to be statistically nonsignificant. CONCLUSION: The findings highlighted the facilitating role of internal psychological factors and educational factors in SMBG adherence in noninsulin-treated type 2 diabetic patients. Among these factors, the education aspect was relatively strongly associated with increased SMBG adherence. With adequate patient education on diabetes and SMBG, the increased literacy would possibly strengthen patients’ internal psychological factors and motivate them to uptake SMBG practice. Implications from the current findings suggested that further research on different SMBG parameters is warranted to fill the knowledge gap in structuring an individualized and targeted SMBG protocol for better diabetic care.