Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease associated with high levels of glucose (sugar) in the blood. (The three types of diabetes are: Type 1 diabetes which is onset in juveniles and is characterised by deficient insulin production and the patient requires daily administration of insulin; Gestational diabetes is onset and first detected during pregnancy and Type 2 diabetes is typically found in adults who are 40 years and over and results from the body's ineffective use of insulin). Type 2 diabetes is a lifestyle disease that can be prevented and managed by following a particular eating plan, exercising correctly and by the correct administration of medication. With relevant knowledge, lifestyle changes and information, type 2 diabetic patients can improve and manage their condition effectively. Hence information provision is especially important for the management of diabetes. The current study investigated the information needs and information seeking behaviour of adult type 2 diabetic patients at Addington Hospital in Durban. The study was conducted on the patients who attend the Diabetic Clinic at the Hospital. A better understanding of the information needs and information seeking behaviour of diabetic patients can contribute to their successful management of diabetes. Longo's 2010, Health Information Model provided the conceptual framework for the study. The study adopted both a quantitative and qualitative approach. Both methodologies were used to assist in gaining an insight into the research. It was envisaged that the use of both methodologies would enhance and increase the validity and reliability of the data collected. A population of 69 adult patients with a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes were individually interviewed. The healthcare professionals, which included the Medical Officer and four nursing staff at the Diabetic Clinic and the hospital's diabetic Dietician, completed the self-administered questionnaires. The data was entered into a computer and analysed using SPSS. The data was analysed in terms of frequency of results and presented in the form of tables, bar graphs or pie charts. Four themes emerged from the study: (1) Reliance on the diabetic doctor for diabetic education; (2) the active and passive patterns of information seeking; (3) patients' fear of the consequences of diabetes; and (4) the value of the Department of Health's and the Dietician's packaged information. The results of the study indicated that certain factors influenced the patients' decisions about their diabetes self-management. Their current needs influenced their need to seek out information and in most instances they sought this information out from the diabetic doctor. They could not afford the recommended foods for diabetics and besides obtaining their information from the pamphlets and hand-outs provided by the hospital, they obtained their information from traditional mass media. The study concluded that the patients relied heavily on the information provided by the doctor, the dietician and the hand-outs and pamphlets that are available at the clinic. Without an understanding of the effects of information on type 2 diabetes patients, we have an incomplete picture of how information changes the patients' behaviour, which is of primary concern in healthcare information. The study therefore recommended that future research should investigate the effects information has on type 2 diabetes patients and their behaviour. Recommendations that were drawn from the conclusions of the study were that the Diabetic Clinic and Hospital should consider approaching the South African Diabetes Association (SADA) with regard to volunteering their services and facilities to the patients at the hospital. The Clinic should also consider playing a video/dvd recording on diabetes in the patient waiting room. The Diabetic Clinic should also consider inviting a podiatrist to speak to the patients about foot care. / Thesis (M.I.S.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.

As of 2021, nearly 538 million adults and children live with diabetes mellitus worldwide, with projections for 2045 estimated at 645 million adults globally. In the United States, there are 34 million adults with diabetes and an additional 88 million with prediabetes. The economic costs are staggering, primarily due to management of acute or chronic complications. As a chronic condition requiring daily self-care, the psychosocial burden of diabetes is significant. Therefore, diabetes self-management education is recommended as a standard of care for all people with diabetes. The Association of Diabetes Care and Education Specialists (ADCES) has created a framework of education incorporating seven self-care behaviors, each with several knowledge, skill, and barrier resolution outcome measures. However, research has suggested that diabetes self-management and support services are not utilized sufficiently. YouTube™ with a reach of over 2 billion users is a potential medium to reach more people with diabetes. At the present time, there is a paucity of research describing the source and content of the most widely viewed videos on diabetes selfcare. This study aimed to help fill that gap. Specific aims of the study included: (a) describe characteristics of widely viewed YouTube™ videos on Diabetes Self-Care concerning length, date posted, source, speaker(s), format, and number of views; (b) describe the content of the most widely viewed YouTube™ videos on diabetes self-management education and support, categorized by the ADCES7 Self-Care™ behaviors; and (c) examine the source of videos in relation to number of views. The researcher used a YouTube™ Application Programming Interface to retrieve video URLs along with meta data such as source, duration, date posted, and view counts. Data were sorted by URL and view count, duplicates removed, and screened for inclusion and exclusion criteria. The top 100 videos by view count were used as the sample in the study. A codebook developed for this study categorized the upload source, speaker, format, and seven content categories. Descriptive analyses were conducted to understand the most viewed sources and the content categories likely and not likely to be mentioned. Collectively, these 100 videos were viewed 146,405,133 times, with an average duration of 12.2 minutes. Most of the videos (N = 77) were uploaded between 2017 and 2021. Results indicated that the two most popular sources for videos were Professionals and Corporations together uploading 72 videos and garnering 77% of cumulative views. In contrast, government agencies uploaded 1 video (<1% of cumulative views). Professionals was the most common protagonist (N = 42) when a speaker could be identified. Talk by professional received 34.09% of cumulative views, almost as much as Animation with voice (35.95%). The content areas most mentioned were Background on Diabetes, focusing on factors affecting blood sugar and ADCES7 Self-Care BehaviorsTM, especially Healthy Eating. Reversal of Diabetes was broached in 18 videos with 23.13% of cumulative views. Prevention Strategies for Communities was not mentioned at all, and Prevention Strategies for Individuals garnered less than 4% of cumulative views. YouTube™ is a popular source of online information for people with diabetes. As such, it presents an excellent avenue to raise awareness of prediabetes and dissemination of diabetes self-management education. Significant opportunity exists for government and advocacy agencies to increase their presence on YouTube™ in terms of viewership, while presenting meaningful and credible information. Recommendations for population and public health initiatives as well as future research and practice were presented to utilize the power of YouTube™ as a medium to expand the reach of diabetes self-management education and support.

Type 2 diabetes is a highly prevalent disease, projected to increase in prevalence, while expensive to treat. This study sought to identify significant predictors of each of the two study outcome variables—a higher quality of patient-provider communication, and a higher quality of life. The online sample (N=72) was 78% (n=56) female with a mean age of 55.3 years, while 71% Black/African American with a good overall health status. They rated the overall quality of care received from their provider between good and very good. Using the new Patient-Provider Communication Scale (PP-CS-07, patient-provider communication was closest to very good. Health literacy skills were closest to very good, and health literacy self-efficacy was closest to very good. Level of knowledge for caring for type 2 diabetes was closest to very good knowledge. Participants were in an action stage with 80% confidence (very good self-efficacy) to perform seven diabetes self-management behaviors. Some 43.1% experienced depression, 44.4% experienced anxiety, and 20.8% sought counseling in the past year. The mean quality of life rating was closest to good quality of life. While controlling for social desirability, backward stepwise regression showed better quality patient-provider communication was significantly predicted by: received diabetes education, higher rating of health care quality, higher level of health literacy skills, and, being in a lower stage of change for self-care behaviors—with 79.2% of variance explained by this model. Better quality of life was significantly predicted by: female gender, having received diabetes education, no past year anxiety, higher annual household income, lower weight status, higher health literacy self-efficacy, higher rating of knowledge of diabetes self-management—with 69.4% of the variance explained by this model. Findings make a compelling case for screening patients for depression and anxiety, using the brief tool used in this study; and future research evaluating the impact of health educators and providers being trained in motivational interviewing, while using the Patient-Provider Communication Scale (PP-CS-7) as a new tool to compare ratings by patients of providers trained in motivational interviewing. Healthcare policy should mandate such training in brief motivational interviewing, and evaluate the impact of training in containing costs.