Demographic, Health and Diabetes Self-management Correlates of Medical Skepticism Among Rural Older Adults.

This study examines the demographic, health, and diabetes self-management correlates of medical skepticism among an ethnically diverse sample of older (>60 years) rural adults. Participants (n=564) received a hemoglobin A1c (A1c) test and completed a survey including measures of diabetes management behaviors and the four-item medical skepticism scale. Significant associations were observed between medical skepticism and demographic and health characteristics; overall greater medical skepticism was associated with lower A1c values. In multivariate analysis, overall medical skepticism scores were inversely associated with participating in diabetes education classes and positively associated with participating in exercise sessions. Two of the four individual medical skepticism items were associated with diabetes management: diabetes class participation and exercising and eating > 5 daily servings of fruits and vegetables. This study shows that a brief medical skepticism tool may be useful in clinical and research settings in assessing the degree to which older adults with diabetes adhere to diabetes management.