2.3. Outcomes

Self‐management was evaluated by the SDSCA questionnaire,³¹ a self‐report measure of how often participants perform diabetes self‐care activities. The SDSCA questionnaire has been utilized in several studies and settings and is deemed to be reliable, valid and sensitive³⁶, ³⁷, ³⁸ in evaluating diabetes self‐management in adults. This study used a version of the SDSCA questionnaire that comprised of items assessing five domains of diabetes self‐management which are “general diet (2 items), specific diet (2 items), exercise (2 items), blood glucose testing (2 items) and foot care (2 items)”.³¹ The medication self‐management component was excluded based on previous reports of its “ceiling effects and lack of variability among participants”.³¹ The smoking self‐management component was also excluded because smoking behaviour was relevant to smokers only.