The impact of social problem solving skills on quality of life and clinical results of the persons with chronic disease

Aim: This study aims to evaluate social problem solving skills of the persons with chronic disease, and to investigate the impact of these skills on their quality of life as well as clinical outcomes. Materials and Method: This study incorporated the patients with primary hypertension (n=90) and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (n= 90) in addition to 90 individuals without any chronic disease (control group). Socio-demographic questionnaire form, Social Problem Solving Inventory-Short Form and World Health Organization Quality of Life Survey- Short Form were conducted. The latest HbA1c levels and average of one-week tension measuring results were taken as clinical parameters. Results: Social problem solving skills were found to be affected by gender, employment status, the existence of complication, the status of receiving training about disease, type of medications used, and alcohol consumption in the patients with diabetes; and by age, type of medications used, frequency of seeing family physician, educational status and level of income in hypertensive patients (p<0,05). Evaluating the quality of life, on the other hand, a significant difference was established between the groups in terms of age, gender, educational background, level of income, and the status of doing exercise and dieting in case of the patients with diabetes; and in terms of level of income, the existence of complication, frequency of seeing family physician, the existence of comorbidities, and the status of doing exercise in case of hypertensive patients (p<0,05). It was found that both diabetes and hypertensive groups were visiting their family physicians more frequently as compared to the control group (p=0,000). No statistically significant difference was determined between the groups in terms of scale scores with the exception of quality of life-physical health score. Correlation analyses among social problem solving skills, quality of life and clinical parameters indicated that among the diabetic and hypertensive patients adopting functional problem solving patterns, the quality of life and clinical parameters were being affected positively. Conclusion: Social problem solving capabilities of the persons with chronic disease were confirmed to be associated with their quality of life and clinical outcomes. Given the fact that the persons with chronic disease visit family physician more frequently, it can be suggested that family physicians should review and improve their knowledge, skills and attitudes on this subject. Key words: Diabetes, hypertension, chronic disease, social problem solving, quality of life