Abstract

Quality of (QOL) reflects the scale of social physical activities as well as mental health and is considered as an important health indicators and factors. QOL can be used as an indicator of the quality of health care and is part of the patient's treatment plan. The determination of this indicator in patients with type II diabetes which is a chronic and common disease provides health care providers with useful information. In this descriptive analytical study, fifty patients with type II diabetes who referred to the Clinic of Jale'i Health Center, Zabol, Iran were selected. The required data were collected using a check-list of demographic data and Diabetes-specific Quality of Life Brief Clinical Inventory (DQOL-BCI) which had acceptable reliability and validity. Software SPSS-18 and descriptive statistics were run to analyze the data. In this study, fifity patients with type II diabetes living in four villages covered by Jale'i Health Center were examined. 36 individuals (72) were female and 14 (28) were male. The mean age of the patients was 52.16 ± 7.3 years old and the mean duration of diabetes was 5.26 ± 3.7 years. With regard to occupation, 60 were household, 22 were farmers, 10 worked in greenhouse, and the rest was selfemployed. 54 used tablet to control their diabetes, while 46 used combined treatments (tablet, insulin, diet, and exercise). With regard to the level of education, 74 were illiterate, and 26 had high school diploma. In terms of marital status, 76 were married and 24 single (including the lack of marriage or death of the spouse). With respect to their health, in total, 62 suffered from overweight, obesity, and dangerous obesity, whereas 24 of them had diabetes complications (eye, kidney, cardiovascular, and diabetic foot ulcers). QOL in the majority of cases (74) was fairly favorable and quality of life in 16 of them was at an optimum level. Given the high prevalence of diabetes in the villages covered by the health center (2.4), it is suggested that further studies be conducted on the causes of diabetes including the role of diet, genetic factors, cultural and social beliefs, and lifestyle of people in the region.