Social support, depression, anxiety, and quality of life among persons living with type 2 diabetes: a path analysis

Co-morbid mental health problems among persons living with type 2 diabetes have a significant influence on diabetic persons' self-care and, ultimately, quality of life. However, the mechanisms linking the co-morbid mental health problems of type 2 diabetes patients to the decreased quality of life are not fully understood. This study examined the direct and indirect influences of co-morbid depression and anxiety on the quality of life of 115 persons living with type 2 diabetes, using a cross-sectional survey design. Frequencies and percentages were used to summarize the data, and the Pearson correlation was used to determine the bivariate association between the study variables. PROCESS Macro in SPSS was used for mediation analyses. The findings show that depression and anxiety had significant negative correlations with the quality of life of persons living with type 2 diabetes. However, only depression had a significant negative correlation with social support. On the contrary, social support significantly and positively correlated with quality of life. The mediation analysis shows that social support partially mediated the relationship between depression and quality of life after adjusting for the sex of the participants. However, social support did not have a significant mediation effect on the link between anxiety and quality of life after adjusting for the sex of the participants. The availability of social support, especially peer support, could buffer the negative emotional experiences associated with living with type 2 diabetes and improve the quality of life for persons living with this health condition.