Date of Award
1-1-2024
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.A. in Psychology
First Advisor
Aaron Lee
Second Advisor
Todd Smitherman
Third Advisor
Stefan E. Schulenberg
School
University of Mississippi
Relational Format
dissertation/thesis
Abstract
Introduction: Diabetes is a complex chronic disease that involves time consuming and intensive self-management, which has been shown to be associated with psychological distress. High levels of diabetes-related distress have been linked to poor glycemic outcomes. A growing body of research has demonstrated that resilience is a dispositional characteristic associated with improved psychological and glycemic outcomes among adults with diabetes. However, to date, there is no appropriate measure of diabetes-related distress for English-speaking adults with diabetes. The purpose of the present study is to develop, test, and validate a theoretically informed instrument to measure diabetes-related resilience: the Resilience Among Adults with Diabetes Scale (RADS).
Methods: A pool of 55 items was developed to reflect domains of diabetes distress and diabetes self-care behaviors. 10 experts in diabetes self-management and seven experts in resilience were recruited via the Diabetes Special Interest Group (SIG) of the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) and through literature search to rate all potential items on how well they reflect diabetes distress and diabetes self-care behaviors. 255 adults with type 2 diabetes were recruited via CloudResearch to validate the measure.
Results: An exploratory factor analysis yielded a final scale of 15 items comprised of two factors: adaptability (α = .92) and determination (α = .87) with excellent internal consistency (α = .94) as well as good convergent validity (r = .39 to .42) with trait resilience. The adaptability and determination subscales demonstrated discriminant validity with measures of self-deceptive enhancement (r = .34 - .38, p < .001) but not impression management (r = 0.13, p = .061; r = 0.13, p = .047). Subscales demonstrated small to moderate correlations with diabetes self-management behaviors (r = .22 to .40).
Discussion: The two-factor structure of the RADS is consistent with emerging conceptualizations of resilience that emphasize active resistance and plasticity to stressors. The RADS demonstrated largely favorable validity, with strongest associations between the RADS and trait resilience and diabetes self-efficacy. Future research is needed to determine the utility of the RADS for predicting glycemic outcomes.
Recommended Citation
Nesbitt, Katherine, "Development and Validation of a Resilience Measure for Adults with Diabetes" (2024). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2963.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/2963