Relationship between Coping Style to Stress and Glycemic Control in Non-Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus—Assessed using the P-F Study—

To investigate the relationship between the coping style of patients with non insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) in stressful situations in their daily life setting and their state of glycemic control, we assessed NIDDM outpatients at Kitakyusyu Municipal Medical Center who had been followed for at least one year. The subjects were divided into two groups, a “good control” group and a “poor control” group, based on their serum glycosylated hemoglobin concentration (HbAi), and were compared using the Picture-Frustration Study (P-F Study). The P F Study is a psychological test using a semi-projective technique to appraise a person's typical mode of reaction in a frustrating setting. The results showed that (1) in the “good control” group a coping style of “accepting one's difficulties as they are” was more frequently used, whereas (2) coping styles of “repressing one's frustration” and “excessive optimism in dealing with one's difficulties” were significant in female patients in the “poor control” group. Based on these findings, the coping style of NIDDM patients with stressors in their daily life may be associated with their state of glycemic control, suggesting that the results of this study can be applied as a useful index for therapeutic intervention in treating NIDDM patients, especially “poor control” patients.