Atribuciones y creencias sobre la diabetes mellitus tipo 2

Objective: to identify in type 2 diabetics the culturaldomain of causal attributions for the origin and evolutionof disease symptoms, and causal attributionsfor origin of complications in complicated patients.Materials and methods: three hundred fifty patientswith type 2 diabetes were chosen at random froma Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS);they were aged 25 years and older and resided ina metropolitan area of Northeastern Mexico. Followinga free-listing technique, patients were askedat home about causal attributions of interest. Informationgenerated was subjected to descriptive andqualitative statistics.Results: responses showed 25 causal attributionsto the origin of the disease, among which “due toa scare” predominated. Low cultural importancevalues were observed regardless of the stratumstudied. The attribute inheritance was predominantamong males with junior high + education,remunerated occupation, and family history of diabetes.Six of 10 expressed they felt better aftertreatment. Medication was the dominant attributeregardless of stratum. A minority group expressedthey felt the same or worse. The cultural domainindicated an increase in glucose levels.Conclusions: several attributes were observed. Itis of the utmost importance that health personneltake into account patients’ beliefs and attributesfor them to achieve a higher impact in their jobperformance.