The Influence of Family Caregiver Knowledge and Behavior on Elderly Diabetic Patients’ Quality of Life in Northern Thailand

The quality of life (QoL) of elderly diabetic patients may be affected by caregiver factors, but this has received little empirical support. The objective of this cross-sectional study is to determine the influence of family caregivers’ diabetes knowledge and behavior on the QoL among elderly patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). The participants included 354 elderly patients with Type 2 DM and their family caregivers, who were recruited through multistage sampling from five districts in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Face-to-face interviews with DM patients were conducted using the Thai Simplified Diabetes Knowledge Scale (T-SDKS), the Thai version of the Diabetes Self-Management Questionnaire (DSMQ) for self-care behaviors, and the Thai version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life for Older People (WHOQOL-OLD) scale. For caregivers, their diabetes knowledge was measured by T-SDKS and patient-care or supportive behaviors were developed based on DSMQ. The results showed a moderate level of QoL among elderly diabetic patients. According to simple linear regression analysis, the QoL score among elderly DM patients was positively associated with their diabetes knowledge (B = 1.25), self-care behaviors (B = 3.00), caregivers’ knowledge (B = 0.97), and supportive behavior from caregivers (B = 2.92) at a significance level of p < 0.01. In the multivariable model, patients’ self-care behaviors (B = 1.58, p = 0.001), caregivers’ knowledge (B = 0.58, p = 0.001), and patient-care behaviors (B = 1.38, p = 0.004) were significantly associated with QoL among DM patients when controlling for patient factors, including age, body mass index (BMI), education, and living arrangements, which accounted for 27.0% of the variance. This indicates that caregivers’ adequate diabetes knowledge and appropriate supportive behaviors may impact the QoL of elderly diabetic patients. Health care providers should prioritize motivating and empowering family caregivers to pay more attention to the patient for the success goal.