Social factors and barriers to self-care adherence in Hispanic men and women with diabetes

•Results revealed Hispanic gender differences in factors related to self-care.•Men received more support and reported better self-care adherence than women.•Women reported more barriers, less support and more negative reinforcement.•Support was significantly correlated with self-efficacy in women, but not men.•The lack of adequate support seems to be a fundamental barrier for Hispanic women.

ObjectiveTo explore quantitatively the extent to which social support, social norms and barriers are associated with self-efficacy and self-care adherence in Hispanic patients with diabetes and the extent to which these differ for men and women.MethodsBaseline survey data were collected from 248 low-SES, Hispanic men and women who were participants in a randomized controlled trial of a culturally targeted intervention for diabetes management. Student's t, Pearson correlations and multiple regression were used to analyze the data.ResultsCompared to men, women were less likely to receive support, faced more barriers, reported less self-efficacy and had lower levels of self-care adherence. Perceived support was consistently correlated with better self-efficacy in women but not men, even though men reported higher levels of support.ConclusionThe lack of adequate support seems to be a fundamental barrier for Hispanic women with diabetes.Practice implicationsHealth care providers should be sensitive to sociocultural influences in Hispanic groups that may facilitate men's self-care adherence, but could potentially hamper women's efforts. Interventions designed for Hispanics should augment women's support needs and address culture and social factors that may differentially impact the ability of men and women to manage their diabetes.