The Effectiveness of Peer Support on Self-efficacy and Self-management in People with Type 2 Diabetes: A Meta-analysis

Objectives: This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of peer support on self-efficacy and self-management in people with type 2 diabetes.

Methods: Eight databases were utilized for selecting eligible studies that were published from inception to Jan., 2020. The eligible studies were screened, extracted and then the methodological quality was evaluated independently by two researchers. RevMan version 5.3 software and Stata version 14.0 software were utilized for the meta-analysis.

Results: Seventeen studies were included in the meta-analysis. Compared with the control group, peer support significantly improved self-efficacy [SMD = 0.41, 95 % CI = (0.20, 0.62), p = 0.0001] and self-management [SMD = 1.21, 95 % CI = (0.58, 1.84), p = 0.0002] in people with type 2 diabetes, but had no significant effect on distress (p = 0.34).

Conclusions: Peer support significantly improved self-efficacy and self-management, but there was no clear evidence that peer support improved distress in people with type 2 diabetes. More studies are needed to further verify the validity of the results.

Practice Implications: This meta-analysis suggested that peer support should be considered as a complementary treatment for patients with type 2 diabetes. Medical staff can encourage the use of peer support in the teaching content of patients with type 2 diabetes to improve their self-efficacy and self-management.