Cognitive behavior therapy for diabetes distress, depression, health anxiety, quality of life and treatment adherence among patients with type-II diabetes mellitus: a randomized control trial

OBJECTIVE: Diabetes distress typically causes depressive symptoms; common comorbidity of diabetes unpleasantly affects patients’ medical and psychological functions. Psychotherapeutic interventions are effective treatments to treat depressive symptoms and to improve the quality of life in many chronic diseases including diabetes. The present study investigated the efficacy of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) to treat depressive symptoms in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) using experimental and waitlist control conditions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 130 diagnosed patients with T2DM were taken from outdoor patients services of different hospitals in Faisalabad. Ninety patients met the eligibility criteria and were randomly assigned to experimental (n = 45) and waitlist control (n = 45) conditions. All the patients completed clinical interviews and assessment measures at pre-and post-assessment stages (16 weeks intervals). Medical consultants at the respective hospitals diagnosed the patients on the base of their medical reports and then referred those patients to us. Then we used different scales to assess primary and secondary outcomes: Diabetes Distress Scale (DDS) and Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) to assess primary outcomes, and a Short Health Anxiety Inventory (SHAI), a Revised Version of the Diabetes Quality of Life Questionnaire (DQLQ), and a General Medication Adherence Scale (GMAS) were used to investigate secondary outcomes. Repeated measure ANOVA was used to analyze the results. RESULTS: The findings indicated that patients who received CBT got a significant reduction in their diabetes distress F(1,60) = 222.710, P < 0.001, η(2) = .788), depressive symptoms F(1,60) = 94.436, P < 0.001, η(2) = .611), health anxiety F(1,60) = 201.915, P < .0.001, η(2) = 771), and a significant improvement in their quality of life F(1,60) = 83.352, P < 0.001, η(2) = .581), treatment adherence F(1,60) = 67.579, P < 0.001, η(2) = .566) and physical activity schedule F(1,60) = 164.245, P < .0.001, η(2) = .736 as compared to the patients in waitlist control condition. CONCLUSION: It is concluded that cognitive behavior therapy is an effective and promising intervention for depressive symptoms, diabetes distress, and health anxiety which also helps the person to promote quality of life, treatment adherence and physical activity. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12888-023-04546-w.