Background: Patients experiencing stigma are more prone to engage in unhealthy behaviors. The correlation between stigma and health‐promot
Background: Patients experiencing stigma are more prone to engage in unhealthy behaviors. The correlation between stigma and health‐promoting behaviors in overweight/obese T2DM patients is unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the association between the two in this particular population. Methods: This cross‐sectional study, conducted from July 2022 to July 2023 at the Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism of a tertiary general hospital in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China, used convenience sampling to enroll overweight/obese T2DM patients. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain information on sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. Respondents were assessed for stigma and health‐promoting behaviors using the SSCI and T2DHPS scales. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 27.0, with a significance level of p < 0.05. Results: The majority was males (64%). The average BMI of patients was 27.27 ± 3.11 (kg/m2), and the average HbA1c was 8.36 ± 1.81 (mmol/mol). The overall stigma score of overweight/obese T2DM patients was 4.19 ± 8.69, and the overall health‐promoting behaviors score was 87.75 ± 16.75. Pearson correlation analysis revealed a significant correlation between stigma and the overall score of health promotion behaviors (r = −0.144, p < 0.05). The multiple linear regression analysis showed that the hypoglycemia incidence, patient origin, GLP‐1RA use, and stress management explained 23.9% of the patients' feelings of stigma. Conclusions: This study found that there was a correlation between the level of stigma and health‐promoting behaviors in overweight/obese patients with T2DM. Hypoglycemia, inpatient, GLP‐1RA treatment, and stress management significantly predicted stigma among overweight/obese patients. These findings have implications for healthcare providers, as they can develop intervention strategies by assessing the levels of stigma and stress management in overweight/obese patients with T2DM, to help reduce stigma and promote healthy behaviors among these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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