Happiness and Life Satisfaction among Diabetic Patients

Diabetes is a chronic serious metabolic disease, common worldwide. The prevalence is increasing rapidly and the number of affected people is expected to be around 366 million by the year 2030. Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in our country. Diabetes is a chronic disease without a cure; however, with proper management and treatment, diabetics can live normal, healthy lives. In the present research an attempt was made to study the relationship between happiness and life-satisfaction among insulin dependent and non-dependent diabetic patients. The study was carried on by formulating hypotheses that (a) - Insulin dependent and non-dependent diabetic patients would differ significantly in terms of their happiness, (b)- Insulin dependent and non-dependent diabetic patients would differ significantly in terms of their life-satisfaction, (c)- Happiness would be positively correlated with life-satisfaction among insulin dependent and non-dependent diabetic patients. For empirical verification of these three hypotheses a study was conducted on a sample of 100 diabetic patients (50 insulin dependent and 50 nondependent diabetic patients) from Indira Gandhi institute of cardiology (IGIC) Patna by employing incidental sampling technique. Their age ranged from 45-55 years. They were matched as far as possible in other respects. Oxford happiness scale developed by Michael Argyle and Peter Hills (Oxford University) was used for measuring happiness. Life satisfaction scale developed by Ashok Pratap Singh (Department of psychology) Banaras Hindu University was applied to check the life satisfaction of insulin dependent and non-dependent diabetic patients. For the analysis of the obtained scores t-ratio and co-efficient of correlation were computed. The findings on the whole indicated that there is not any significant difference between the happiness and life satisfaction among insulin dependent and non-dependent diabetic patients. Insulin dependent and non-dependent diabetic patients do not differ significantly in terms of their happiness and life-satisfaction. Happiness is positively correlated with lifesatisfaction among insulin dependent and non-dependent diabetic patients. The findings of the present research reveal that happiness is the predictor of life satisfaction. It plays an important role in improving the quality of life among diabetic patients.