FACTORS OF POOR ADHERENCE TO INSULIN THERAPY IN PATIENTS WITH DIABETES MELLITUS AND THEIR FAMILIES

Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is the most common chronic disease in the world that is
the major risk factor of fatal diseases such as myocardial infarction and stroke also the complication of
DM is a common cause of disability. The most important treatment to control DM is insulin therapy;
however, due to several factors, patients do not tolerate this method. We aimed to identify the factors
affecting poor adherence to insulin therapy in the patients and families.
Materials & Methods: This study was performed on 216 patients (108 patients with diabetes and 108
families). Demographic information and insulin rejection questionnaire were completed by patients and
patients' families. Data were compared based on the Mann-Whitney and independent t-tests.
Results: Findings of our study showed that among the group of diabetic patients, mean and standard
deviation of the score of factors such as fear of needle, injection site pain, additional cost, family injury
with needle, other people's experiences, psychological trauma, injection difficulty, fear of side effects
ratio, and other factors were significantly higher and they were the most important reasons for not taking
insulin in this group. Among the diabetic family group, the mean and standard deviation of the score of
factors such as family dependence, fear of needles, injection site pain, additional cost, other people's
experiences, trauma, injection difficulty, and fear of complications were significantly higher than other
factors.
Conclusion: Based on the results, most of the barriers to the non-use of insulin are due to unnecessary
fears in patients that training and eliminating the barriers with training classes can increase patients'
compliance with insulin and increase their adherence to the treatment regimen.