Objective  To evaluate the correlation between self-efficacy and medication adherence among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in Shandong province, China and to provide references to develop interventions on medication adherence in the patients.

  Methods  Using stratified multistage random sampling, we conducted a questionnaire survey among 2 166 T2DM patients aged 35 – 79 years in urban communities or rural villages in four municipalities of Shandong province from August to October, 2017. The Diabetes Empowerment Scale-Short Form – Chinese Version (DES-SF-C) and the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale with Eight-Item – Chinese Version (MMAS-8-C) were used to assess self-efficacy and medication adherence. The data for the patients with oral hypoglycemic drugs were analyzed. Spearman correlation analysis and multivariate ordinal logistic regression analysis were used to assess the correlation between self-efficacy and medication adherence.

  Results  Of the 1 545 patients included in the analysis, 38.1% (588), 36.7% (567), and 25.2% (390) had good, moderate, and poor medication adherence. The average score of medication adherence and self-efficacy were 6.6 ± 1.7 and 32.0 ± 5.0, respectively. Spearman correlation analysis revealed that there was a positive correlation between the self-efficacy score and medication adherence score (r = 0.05, P = 0.045). The results of multivariate ordinal logistic regression analysis revealed that a patient’s self-efficacy was a significant predictor of medication adherence after controlling for gender, age, education, household income per capita, living region, disease duration, and diabetes complication (odds ratio OR = 1.03, 95% confidence interval 95% CI: 1.01 – 1.06; P = 0.01) and the patients aged 65 – 79 years were more likely to have a good medication adherence compared to those aged 35 – 49 years (OR = 1.71, 95% CI = 1.04 – 2.82).

  Conclusion  Self-efficacy is positively correlated with medication adherence among T2DM patients.