Abstract
This study was carried out to investigate the effect of complementary and alternative therapy on physical activity and self-care power in individuals diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. The study was conducted on 63 individuals who had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes for at least 6 months, and met the inclusion criteria. The Personal Information Form, International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Form, and Diabetes Self-Care Scale were used to collect the data. Percentage, median, Mann-Whitney U tests, and Wilcoxon tests were used for data analysis. While 71.9% of the individuals were only on diabetic diet, 58% of the individuals were on diabetic diet together with complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) methods, and all those patients regularly measured their blood glucose levels; 19.4% of the individuals on both diabetic diet and CAM methods, and 21.9% of the individuals only on diabetic diet used more than one oral medication per day. The findings of this study revealed that 35.5% of the individuals both on diabetic diet and CAM methods and 40.6% of the individuals only on diabetic diet used insulin. The individuals who were both on diabetic diet and CAM methods stated that their health statuses improved in the previous month; however, the individuals who were only on diabetic diet did not report any improvement in that period. Physical activity levels and self-care behaviors of the individuals on diabetic diet and CAM methods together were found to be significantly better than those who were only on a diabetic diet. A positive relationship was found between physical activity level and self-care behaviors.