The importance of perceived autonomy support and past behaviour for autonomous motivation in diabetes patients

Abstract

Background. Research in healthy population showed that past behaviour plays a significant role in forming further motivation for the bahaviour. Self-determination theory states that autonomy support facilitate the process of internalization of autonomous motivation. The aim is to evaluate the predicting power of autonomy support for autonomous motivation for health behaviour, regarding past behavior patterns in a sample of patients with diabetes. Methods. Cross-sectional study included 107 patients with diabetes. Autonomy support was measured by HCCQ for diabetes management. Treatment self-regulation style by TSRQ. Past behavior by using SDSCA measure. Cronbach α’s for each measure showed good internal consistency. Findings. The more patients perceive autonomy support from practitioners the more autonomous is their motivation to engage in diabetes self-care behavior: blood sugar testing, diet and physical activity. Past adherence to the self-care behavior is related to higher autonomous motivation for blood sugar testing and diet, but not related to physical activity. Discussion. Providing treatment recommendations practitioners should consider both behavioral experience and autonomy support which impacts motivation for self-determined behavior regulation.