EFFECT OF COMBINED PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERVENTIONS ON DIABETES-SPECIFIC DISTRESS AMONG PATIENTS WITH TYPE 2 DIABETES MELLITUS

Diabetes-specific distress is a significant emotional burden with daily life of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). This article's underlying paper was a physical activity-based approach with psychological support for patients with diabetes-specific distress. To present the impact of the combined physical and psychological intervention on diabetes-specific distress in adults with T2DM, based on the results of the Diabetes Distress Scale (DDS) in the paper. This was a randomized controlled trial carried out in Jinnah and mayo hospital, Lahore, Pakistan, as a part of the parent study. The intervention framework contained a structured physical activity component and Problem-Solving Therapy provided over 12 weeks. The Diabetes Distress Scale was used to measure diabetes-specific distress. This article only deals with the DDS finding that includes both types of interventions and does not add anything new to the calculation of patient-level results.  The overall physical and psychological intervention significantly impacted diabetes distress (p < .001), and there was a very large reported effect size (Cohen's d = 8.67). The Article reports that the largest DDS effect was achieved by the combined intervention among the intervention group. In the reported trial results, a combined approach to tackling both physical and psychological aspects was associated with a significant decrease in diabetes-specific distress in individuals with T2DM. Overall, the findings are encouraging for the evaluation of integrated diabetes-care models in future studies with sufficient sample size and duration of observation.