Direct and indirect effects of neighborhood factors and self-care on glycemic control in adults with type 2 diabetes

Aim To determine whether neighborhood factors have direct or indirect effects, via self-care behaviors on glycemic control. Methods Adult patients with type 2 diabetes were recruited from an academic medical center and Veterans Affairs Medical Center in the southeastern United States. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to create latent variables for neighborhood factors and diabetes self-care behavior. Structural equation modeling was used to test direct and indirect effects between neighborhood factors and glycemic control as assessed by HbA1c levels. Results CFA yielded four latent variables for neighborhood factors (neighborhood violence, access to healthy food, social support, and neighborhood aesthetics) and one latent variable diabetes self-care. We found that social support (β = 0.28, z = 4.86, p < 0.001) and access to healthy foods (β = - 0.17, z = - 2.95, p = 0.003) had direct effects on self-care; self-care (β = - 0.15, z = - 2.48, p = 0.013) and neighborhood aesthetics (β = 0.12, z = 2.19, p = 0.03) had direct effects on glycemic control; while social support (β = - 0.04, z = - 2.26, p = 0.02) had an indirect effect on glycemic control via self-care. Conclusion This study showed that self-care behaviors and neighborhood aesthetics have direct effects on glycemic control, social support and access to health foods had direct effects on self-care, and social support had an indirect effect on glycemic control via self-care.