Relationship Between Medication Literacy and Beliefs Among Persons with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Guangdong, China

Sifen Jiang,1,&ast; Zhuoqi Zhu,2,&ast; Guisheng Liao,3,&ast; Yanling Huang,1 Lichang Li,4 Kun Zeng1 1School of Nursing, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2School of Public Health, Guangxi Medical University, Guangxi, People’s Republic of China; 3Emergency Outpatient, Dongguan Eighth People’s Hospital, Dongguan, People’s Republic of China; 4Endocrinology Department, Dongguan Eighth People’s Hospital, Dongguan, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Kun Zeng, School of Nursing, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, No. 283, Jianghai Avenue, Haizhu District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, 510310, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 13790300213, Email Zengkun660524@163.comPurpose: To establish the relationship between medication literacy and medication beliefs among persons with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).Patients and methods: A cross-sectional survey of 246 patients with T2DM was conducted between April and November 2022 at a tertiary hospital in Dongguan City, Guangdong Province, China. Subsequently, these patients were administered the General Information Questionnaire, the Chinese version of Medication Literacy Assessment Scale, and the Chinese version of Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire-Specific via survey.Results: The medication literacy score of patients with T2DM was 7.82± 3.007, and the medication beliefs score was 2.26± 4.011. The Pearson correlation analysis revealed a statistically significant but weakly positive correlation (r = 0.271, P < 0.001) between medication literacy and beliefs among patients diagnosed with T2DM. However, there was no significant correlation found between medication literacy and necessity (r = − 0.021, P > 0.05), while a lowly negative correlation was observed between medication literacy and concerns (r = − 0.307, P < 0.001). Moreover, the multiple linear regression analysis indic