CONCLUSIONS Despite a compelling theoretical base , research ers have only minimally studied the value of interventions targeting patients ' social networks on diabetes care .
OBJECTIVES In the care of patients with type 2 diabetes , self-management is emphasised and studied while theory and observations suggest that patients also benefit from social support .
We sought to assess the effect of social network interventions on social support , glycaemic control and quality of life in patients with type 2 diabetes .
The WHO (Ten) Well-Being Index: validation in diabetes.
BACKGROUND In a European trial in 8 countries , the subjective well-being of patients on alternative forms of treatment for insulin-dependent diabetes was compared using the 28-item WHO Well-Being Question naire , covering four dimensions of depression , anxiety , energy and positive well-being . The objective of the analysis reported here has been to identify the items of the WHO question naire which belong to an overall index of negative and positive well-being . METHODS Adult patients at 10 study centres in 8 countries who had been on insulin for at least 2 years were invited to participate in a r and omised , cross-over trial to compare insulin pump treatment with injection therapy . At each phase , patients completed questions on well-being and general health . Internal validity of the well-being index was evaluated by Cronbach 's alpha and Loevinger 's and Mokken 's homogeneity coefficients , as well as factor analysis . External validity was evaluated by comparisons with results of the general assessment questions and by the ability to discriminate between the alternative forms of treatment . RESULTS 358 patients had sufficient data for analysis . Ten items were found to constitute a valid index of well-being with respect to internal and external validity . Coefficients of homogeneity were acceptable and there was evidence for both concurrent and discriminant validity . CONCLUSIONS The WHO ( Ten ) well-being index includes negative and positive aspects of well-being in a single uni-dimensional scale . Its advantage lies in its ability to show overall change along the continuum of well-being , thus facilitating comparisons between patient groups and treatments . It is not specific to diabetes , and therefore may be useful as a disease-independent index of well-being in a broad range of health care studies
CONCLUSIONS Despite a compelling theoretical base , research ers have only minimally studied the value of interventions targeting patients ' social networks on diabetes care .
OBJECTIVES In the care of patients with type 2 diabetes , self-management is emphasised and studied while theory and observations suggest that patients also benefit from social support .
We sought to assess the effect of social network interventions on social support , glycaemic control and quality of life in patients with type 2 diabetes .