ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Education and Promotion
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1645281
This article is part of the Research TopicInclusive Health Communication: Strategies for Equitable Information DisseminationView all 14 articles
Impact of negative attitudes and information-seeking behavior of adults with type 2 diabetes on treatment in Japan
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Diabetes and Endocrinology, Nara Medical University Hospital, Kashihara, Japan
- 2Department of Public Health, Health Management and Policy, Nara Kenritsu Ika Daigaku, Kashihara, Japan
- 3Department of Doctor-Patient Relationships, Nara Kenritsu Ika Daigaku, Kashihara, Japan
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Introduction: Effective self-management of type 2 diabetes mellitus in adults is influenced by emotions, thoughts, and information-seeking behavior. This study examined the relationship between the negative attitudes of Japanese adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus and information-seeking behavior, and whether this is associated with lower HbA1c levels. Methods: Adult outpatients with type 2 diabetes mellitus completed a questionnaire survey and the relationships between negative attitudes at diagnosis and consultation, information-seeking behavior, and HbA1c levels were examined. Results: Respondents with higher HbA1c tended not to seek information (p=0.04) and felt they could not focus on work or study (p=0.02). There was a significant association between respondents who agreed that "It's my fault that things go wrong" and "I took a long time before seeing a doctor after diabetes mellitus was suspected" (p=0.04). Positive responses to "It's my fault that things go wrong", "I worry about how I appear to others", and "I feel it's undignified to ask others for help" were associated with information-seeking behavior (p=0.03, p=0.02, and p=0.01, respectively). Analyses including interactions showed that patients who delayed seeing a doctor and agreed with "It's my fault that things go wrong" adopted information-seeking behavior (p=0.02). Discussion: It appears that, even with negative attitudes, the combination of a long time before seeing a doctor and a self-blame mindset was associated with information-seeking behavior. This suggests that, even in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients who have negative attitudes, their self-management behavior can improve if their mindset leads to information-seeking behavior.
Keywords: Diabetes Mellitus, adherence, information-seeking behavior, self-management, HbA1c
Received: 11 Jun 2025; Accepted: 19 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Mohri, Okamoto, Imamura and Ishii. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Sawako Okamoto, Department of Public Health, Health Management and Policy, Nara Kenritsu Ika Daigaku, Kashihara, Japan
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