Self-care behaviors (SCB), these include: glucose management, diet control, physical exercise, and follow-up are the treatment needed to achieve good glycemic control. However, adherence to these SCB has long been a challenge among diabetic patients. This study was done to understand the SCB among controlled and uncontrolled type 2 DM (T2DM) patients and sought to identity the factors affecting good glycemic control. A case-control design was utilized in this study. Purposive sampling was applied to gather 94 controlled DM (cases) and 188 uncontrolled DM (controls) from selected government outpatient and private diabetes clinics in Zamboanga City. Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and two-hour post prandial capillary blood glucose tests were used to distinguish between controlled and uncontrolled DM. Diabetes self-management questionnaire (DSMQ) tool developed by Schmitt et al was utilized. Study findings revealed that there is a statistically significant difference on each of the SCB between the comparison group with p-value less than 0.05. Only physical exercise and follow-up were strong predictors defining good glycemic control. The facilitating factors toward glycemic control were: duration of diabetes for 6 months to 1 year (OR= 3.645, p-value= 0.001), no family history of DM (OR= 2.996, p-value= 0.005), those who take anti-diabetic medications with diet control (OR= 3.909, p-value= 0.001), individuals who have good glucose management (OR= 7.257, p-value= 0.029), good diet control (OR= 2.621, p-value= 0.009), good physical exercise (OR= 4.244, p-value= 0.048), and good follow-up (OR= 7.586, p-value= 0.006). The sole inhibiting factor towards good glycemic control was low income class (OR= 0.251, p-value= 0.003). Findings of the study revealed that the adherence to follow-up and exercise regimen strongly affect glycemic variability. It is recommended that diabetes control program should put emphasis on these two (2) predictors to enable patients achieve good DM control.

Keyword: Self-care behaviors and factors associated Good glycemic control Type 2 diabetes